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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted legal case.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he walked into a room or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Finally, the famously uncertain sovereign was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the loss of titles and the continued and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial member to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive property at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.