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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion grinned suggestively in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have not heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of family money to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in public records: chopper travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which required respect when he entered a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of titles and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to surrender his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Especially painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short communication showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.