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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who declared she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have never been aware of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's resources to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a space or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously indecisive king was pressured more. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, 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 far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short statement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.