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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have never been aware of her, claimed he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a protracted legal case.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences 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 area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The message from the institution was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.