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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of family funds to resolve a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which expected respect when he entered a room or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

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

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pressured further. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the loss of titles and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary royal to surrender his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his service in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the victims: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.