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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of family funds to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: 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".

World of Deference

Furthermore the arrogance which expected respect when he entered a space or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

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 military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his role in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.