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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling move by someone who had openly claimed to have not known about her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the continued and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's account of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed concern for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.