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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that image, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's resources to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when submission and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was clearly that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.