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The saga started with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who said she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly asserted to have never been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to avert a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, conversations of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he entered a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive king was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial member to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but not any of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The statement from the palace was evidently that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the victim's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.