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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have cursory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of family money to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the famously indecisive king was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Notably painful given his service in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his previous residence, 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

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The statement from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the royals were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures 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 monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.