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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who declared she was transported across the sea and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had openly stated to have not heard of her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's funds to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which expected respect when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Now it is the stripping of designations and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

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

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.