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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, telling move by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical money to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he appeared in a area or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

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

Now it is the stripping of titles and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive property at Sandringham.

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

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise statement showed clearly that the royals were siding with the complainant's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.