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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have brief relations with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical money to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required respect when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

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

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first member to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast property at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed evidently that the institution were siding with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.