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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling move by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: chopper flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which expected deference when he walked into a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

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

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the stripping of designations and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his service in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

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

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief communication showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.