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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have never been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical money to avert a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded respect when he appeared in a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known uncertain sovereign was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.