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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no heard of her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family resources to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which expected subservience when he appeared in a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim details of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals understood that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his service in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

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

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is contained. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed evidently that the institution were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the institution. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.