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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's resources to resolve a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which demanded respect when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) 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 hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known uncertain king was pushed further. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the loss of designations and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that reality.