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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual smiled suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had publicly stated to have no been aware of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an time when respect and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously hesitant king was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the loss of designations and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first member to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.