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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who said she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family funds to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a space or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed clearly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have learned that reality.