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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who declared she was moved across the sea and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of family funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise statement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, despite the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.