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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion smiled suggestively in the background.

Without that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who said she was transported across the sea and obliged to have brief relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had openly asserted to have never known about her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's resources to settle a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he appeared in a space or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

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

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a monarchical property.

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

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The message from the royal household was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

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