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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion grinned suggestively in the background.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have never known about her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family funds to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he walked into a room or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary member to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his service in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the institution was evidently that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.