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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

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

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to avert a protracted court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a room or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pushed additional. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were siding with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.