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The saga started with a solitary photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that snapshot, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he walked into a room or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial monarch to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.