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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion beamed suggestively in the rear.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had publicly stated to have no heard of her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in official documents: helicopter transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a area or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

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

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known uncertain sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the story.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary member to lose his titles in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short statement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the victim's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, despite the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.