This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.
There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the backdrop.
Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?
A strange, indicative move by someone who had openly claimed to have never been aware of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical money to avert a long-delayed court action.
Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.
Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".
Then there was the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a area 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 strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.
It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his companions.
Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.
People (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.
The more intelligent family members understood that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.
Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, responsible and reactive to their citizens.
He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.
Eventually, the famously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the narrative.
Currently the loss of designations and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.
He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly come to pass.
Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,
Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a royal residence.
There, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.
This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.
Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be revealed.
Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, desired.
The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's version of events.
Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."
In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.
