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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that snapshot, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly asserted to have never been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, 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 overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in public records: private aircraft travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

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

Presently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief statement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the accuser's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are judged required, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.