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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled knowingly in the background.

Lacking that image, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who said she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical resources to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

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

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a room or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously indecisive king was prodded more. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

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

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the victim's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.