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It all began with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Without that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have no known about her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of family funds to resolve a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were printed in official documents: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a area or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals understood that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known hesitant monarch was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive property at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This 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 sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.