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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate grinned suggestively in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have never heard of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pushed further. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

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

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

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

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

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

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.