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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who declared she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief relations with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have never heard of her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of family funds to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which demanded respect when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was pushed more. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his role in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.