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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's funds to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in official documents: chopper transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which demanded deference when he entered a space or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members realized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the stripping of titles and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary member to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his role in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.