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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have brief relations with a member of the royal family?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had openly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family funds to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

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

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary monarch to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his role in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

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

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.