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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had publicly asserted to have never heard of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family funds to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his companions.

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

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

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

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the loss of titles and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.