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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, telling gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he appeared in a room or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of titles and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.