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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were printed in official documents: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which demanded deference when he entered a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

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

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.