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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly asserted to have no known about her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical money to avert a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded deference when he appeared in a space or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first member to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The statement from the palace was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.