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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion beamed suggestively in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the sea and forced to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family resources to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: helicopter flights from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded respect when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the famously indecisive king was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of designations and the continued and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short announcement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.