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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned suggestively in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had openly stated to have no known about her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family money to settle a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously uncertain king was pushed more. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to surrender his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his role in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

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

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.