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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while a companion smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling move by someone who had overtly stated to have never known about her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their people.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded more. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the continued and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed clearly that the institution were supporting the victim's account of events.

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

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.