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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling gesture by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's funds to settle a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded additional. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Especially painful given his service in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and notably other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's version of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.