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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling move by someone who had openly claimed to have never been aware of her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family funds to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were printed in public records: private aircraft travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead 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 one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when respect and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant king was pressured more. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary member to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the institution were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.