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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed suggestively in the rear.

Without that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical money to resolve a protracted court action.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a space or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his connections.

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

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his service in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

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

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of private allowance.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.