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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion grinned knowingly in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly stated to have no been aware of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed further. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.