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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which expected subservience when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously uncertain monarch was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the story.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.