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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: chopper transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed further. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first member to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his service in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.