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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had openly asserted to have no been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to avert a long-delayed legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which demanded subservience when he appeared in a room or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the loss of designations and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to lose his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

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

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

There, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The statement from the institution was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the complainant's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.