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

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who said she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have no been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of family funds to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known hesitant monarch was pressured more. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

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

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.