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It all began with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion grinned suggestively in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have brief relations with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had openly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family money to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which expected respect when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the famously uncertain king was prodded further. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

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

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his service in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.