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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion beamed suggestively in the background.

Without that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and compelled to have brief relations with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly asserted to have never known about her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of family resources to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously uncertain monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment 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 documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.