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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, telling move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical money to settle a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded respect when he entered a area or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

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

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the famously hesitant sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the story.

Currently the loss of titles and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed evidently that the institution were siding with the complainant's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.