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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that image, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have never been aware of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which expected respect when he appeared in a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when submission and discretion is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Presently the loss of titles and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary monarch to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his role in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the victim's version of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.