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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical money to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which required subservience when he appeared in a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain monarch was pressured further. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his role in the Falklands war

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

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.