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It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion beamed suggestively in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which demanded subservience when he walked into a room or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of books giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his titles in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk 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 American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.