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It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had openly asserted to have no been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of family resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were printed in public records: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which expected deference when he walked into a space or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously hesitant king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise statement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.