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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have no known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to settle a protracted legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected deference when he walked into a space or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their people.

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

Consequences

Finally, the well-known indecisive sovereign was prodded more. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the continued and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.