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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, accountable and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously uncertain sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his role in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the king 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 nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.