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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had openly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which demanded subservience when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim information of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the loss of designations and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to lose his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.