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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

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

Absent that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of family funds to settle a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he entered a area or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when submission and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the account.

Now it is the loss of titles and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

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.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed evidently that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.