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It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned suggestively in the rear.

Without that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have cursory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's resources to settle a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the well-known uncertain king was pushed additional. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of titles and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first member to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the short communication showed plainly that the institution were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

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

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.