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It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical money to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which required subservience when he appeared in a space or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his service in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

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

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief statement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.