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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

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

Absent that image, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly claimed to have never known about her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's resources to settle a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were printed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected subservience when he walked into a space or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously uncertain king was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.