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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion smiled knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's resources to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in official documents: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he entered a space or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more grim information of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed further. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied 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 minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.