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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly claimed to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of family money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Years of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected deference when he entered a area or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pushed further. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of designations and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.