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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the background.

Lacking that image, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the sea and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

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

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members understood that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary member to lose his titles in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short statement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.