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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who declared she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have no been aware of her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family resources to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required respect when he walked into a area or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was pressured additional. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to surrender his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.