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This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have never been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical money to avert a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

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

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his service in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's large estate at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Political Pressure: Could parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise communication showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.