It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.
In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual beamed suggestively in the backdrop.
Absent that image, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was transported across the sea and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?
A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly stated to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's money to resolve a drawn-out court action.
Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.
Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".
Furthermore the arrogance which demanded respect when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.
He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.
Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.
Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.
People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.
The more astute family members recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.
Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.
His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when submission and privacy is no longer enough.
Ultimately, the famously hesitant monarch was pushed further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.
Presently the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.
He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will truly happen.
Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,
Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.
There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.
This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.
The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.
Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, sought.
The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the victim's narrative of events.
Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."
Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.
