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This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who said she was transported across the ocean and forced to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of family funds to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary monarch to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's large property at a monarchical property.

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

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

Unresolved Issues

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.