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This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have no known about her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family funds to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, 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.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the institution was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.