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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling move by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical resources to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and reactive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive king was pressured more. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the story.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to surrender his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

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

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

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

• Political Pressure: Could legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.