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It all began with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who said she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly stated to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which required deference when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

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

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known uncertain monarch was pushed additional. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Could parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.