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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly claimed to have no known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were documented in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a area or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when submission and discretion is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the famously indecisive king was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of designations and the continued and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a royal residence.

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

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the institution were supporting the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.