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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had openly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family funds to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a space or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pressured additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise statement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.