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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, telling move by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's funds to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his companions.

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

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously hesitant monarch was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Notably painful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, 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 furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, 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.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the victim's account of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.