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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

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

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Now it is the stripping of designations and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short announcement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.