Last night’s decision was nothing short of transformational to the Royal Family we see before us today. King Charles pressed the nuclear destruct button on his younger brother, and the result is total banishment. At long last, someone who has done more damage to the reputation of the Firm in centuries will be forcibly hidden away in the shadows.
It was a complicated, knotty web for the King to untangle, encompassing over 100 years of royal legislature, parliamentary guidance and our oh so challenging personal family relations, but he’s done it, and now we have plain old Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
We also now have a precedent. So, the question is, should Prince Harry be worried?
Let me be the first to say that, of course, what Harry has done over the last five years is in no way comparable to what Andrew is accused of doing, despite his repeated denials of the claims.
But the missiles Harry has launched at his family, using every medium possible, will undoubtedly have a firm place in the scandalous pages of future history books.
We have been funnelled stories of the King’s improving relations with his “darling boy” after their fleeting tea at Clarence House earlier this year, which might stop the Monarch from going nuclear, so we will just have to wait and see.
The fact of the matter is that the royal rules set down by King George V in 1917 looked, from the outside, to be a near unfathomable, arcane knot which would tax the brains of even the best lawyers.
But the King has proved it can be done, if required.
Yes, he’s a man intent on inclusion, on harmony, on friendship and faith, but he can be tough when needed, particularly with his Queen, steadfast Prince William and matriarch-in-the-making, Kate, by his side.
He read public sentiment perfectly, and by admonishing his disgraced brother, he refocused the attention exactly where it needed to be – on the victims.