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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling move by someone who had openly asserted to have no heard of her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical money to settle a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were documented in public records: chopper travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the continued and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the victim's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.