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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Without that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who said she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had openly stated to have not heard of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which expected respect when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial member to surrender his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his role in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

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

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The statement from the palace was clearly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.