The pervert formerly known as “Prince”

With thanks to Mr Colbert for the post title…

Quoth the BBC:

After weeks, months, years and even decades of scandals, all the titles and privileges of the former Prince Andrew have been completely removed.
There are no modern precedents for such a colossal loss of royal status.
Unlike the previous statement on his future, this was from Buckingham Palace rather than Andrew himself.
It’s a ripping off the bandage moment, which the Palace will hope will finally draw a line under the endless oil slick of bad news stories about Andrew.
The sliver of dignity given to him, that he was voluntarily choosing not to use his titles, has been taken away. […]
But it’s going to be much harder for the Palace to settle an authentic feeling of public outrage. The sense of unchecked privilege surrounding Andrew has genuinely irritated the public and it will take more than taking away his titles to dispel the sense of ugly entitlement.
Polling by YouGov published on Thursday showed Andrew now has the worst ever popularity ratings for a royal, with 91% holding a negative view of him.
And the King heard that unhappiness first hand from a heckler in Lichfield this week, who shouted: “How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?”
For the Palace, there will be questions about why such longstanding problems around Andrew weren’t dealt with before now. So much of this has been known for so many years, the unsuitable business links, the unexplained funding, the connections with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The cast list changes – alleged Chinese spies or dictators’ wealthy relatives – but the story has remained the same.

Big news, I appreciate, in that the royal family doesn’t usually do this sort of thing to one of its own, but still too little too late in real terms. Plus it seems obvious that they’ve been pushed into it, and, notwithstanding a few gestures like this, they’ve been covering for him for years. As long as Randy Andy’s still walking free in whatever reduced capacity, I don’t think the issue is anywhere near resolved…