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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which demanded deference when he entered a space or the profound obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance 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 crown, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the removal of titles and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to lose his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The message from the royal household was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.