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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

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

Absent that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who stated she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have no been aware of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he entered a area or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an age when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pushed further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise communication showed clearly that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.