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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper flights from the royal residence 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".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which expected respect when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

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

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

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members understood that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously indecisive sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary member to lose his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

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

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short communication showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.