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

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

Absent that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have not heard of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical resources to settle a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more grim information of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members understood that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant king was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

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

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first royal to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the victim's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.