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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was moved across the sea and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly claimed to have never known about her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the famously hesitant king was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the account.

Currently the removal of titles and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first royal to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.