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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of family money to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, know 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 extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were printed in public records: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he appeared in a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members understood that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pushed additional. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the story.

Currently the stripping of designations and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first royal to lose his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short announcement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.