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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly claimed to have not heard of her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a area or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously uncertain monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Could legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the complainant's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.