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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical funds to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which required respect when he appeared in a room or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim information of his actions and that of his connections.

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

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Finally, the famously uncertain king was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a royal residence.

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

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are judged required, despite the truth that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.