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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly asserted to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in official documents: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a space or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his role in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short statement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the victim's account of events.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, despite the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.