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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had openly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which expected subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the story.

Currently the stripping of designations and the continued and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the royals were siding with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.