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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a member of the royal family?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a long-delayed court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a area or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously hesitant sovereign was prodded further. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.