A story many thought was closed is opening again. Britain's Thames Valley police have reopened the investigation into former prince Andrew over the accusations of Virginia Giuffre, who for years claimed she had been sexually abused. Investigators are traveling to the US to question her relatives, requesting documents from Scotland Yard and the US Department of Justice tied to the Jeffrey Epstein case, and announcing interviews with people close to Andrew - security, witnesses, victims.

The occasion is bitter: the investigation intensified a year after Giuffre's death. The woman who accused him most loudly is gone, and the system that stayed silent for decades is now starting to move. That's the pattern the Balkans know well - justice arrives only once it's too late for the person who sought it. How many times have we seen institutions wake up precisely when there's no one left to enjoy the resolution?

Andrew has, meanwhile, paid a price at least on paper. King Charles III stripped him of his titles, evicted him from Royal Lodge and removed him from the active royal family. But he still receives an annual sum and a relocation payment - a punishment that for an ordinary person would mean the end, while for a member of a royal house it means only a different arrangement of comfort. A stripped title isn't the same thing as accountability in court.

The question hanging over the whole story isn't whether Andrew has lost his status - that has already happened. The question is whether he will ever answer before the law, or whether the reopened investigation will end like so many others: with plenty of travel, documents and interviews, and not a single day of accountability. Power has a way of surviving every investigation. Whether this time will be different, we've yet to see.