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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who said she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had publicly claimed to have never heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive monarch was pressured more. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial member to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

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

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

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of events.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.