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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have brief relations with a member of the royal family?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's resources to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were listed in public records: helicopter travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the famously uncertain monarch was pushed additional. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the removal of titles and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large property at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the complainant's account of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.