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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical money to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were printed in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and attentive to their people.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant king was pressured further. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Will legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the victim's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.