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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual grinned suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical funds to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was pressured further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first royal to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his service in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's large grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.