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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and obliged to have brief relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family funds to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which required deference when he entered a space or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an age when submission and privacy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Finally, the well-known uncertain king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of designations and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied 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 token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short communication showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.