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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion smiled knowingly in the background.

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have cursory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded respect when he appeared in a area or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, accountable and attentive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was pressured additional. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

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

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.