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This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive king was prodded additional. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the removal of titles and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort 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 far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.