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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had overtly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family funds to avert a protracted court action.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• 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 hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a space or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the famously hesitant sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, 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 revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the short communication showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.