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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have no known about her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of family money to avert a protracted court action.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large property at a monarchical property.

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

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that reality.