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It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's money to settle a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in official documents: helicopter transfers from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known hesitant monarch was pushed further. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary member to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large property at a royal residence.

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

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the palace was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.