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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had openly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of books giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the account.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.