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The saga started with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who said she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had overtly claimed to have never heard of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's money to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which expected deference when he walked into a space or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the removal of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast property at a royal residence.

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

This is not his former home, 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 sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.