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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had openly claimed to have no heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

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

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pushed more. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the story.

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

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

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

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the royal household was clearly that the removal of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.