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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual smiled suggestively in the rear.

Without that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who declared she was transported across the sea and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have never heard of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to surrender his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Especially hurtful 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 eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast property at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.