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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had openly asserted to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family money to settle a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when respect and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain sovereign was pushed further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the account.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short communication showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.