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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual smiled knowingly in the background.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have no heard of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a area or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

Now it is the loss of designations and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

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

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The message from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short statement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.