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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the rear.

Without that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the sea and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which demanded subservience when he appeared in a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more grim information of his actions and that of his companions.

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

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known uncertain monarch was pushed more. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his service in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief statement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.