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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family resources to avert a long-delayed legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, talk of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a room or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of titles and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary monarch to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.