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This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly claimed to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's money to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive king was pressured more. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the accuser's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.