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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that image, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have never known about her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of family resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which expected respect when he entered a space or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

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

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was pressured additional. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the story.

Now it is the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

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

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed clearly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.