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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion smiled knowingly in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have not heard of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known uncertain king was pushed additional. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.