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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the sea and obliged to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have never heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the complainant's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.