Prince Andrew's arrest on his 66th birthday

— the first senior British royal arrested in four centuries. Accused of sharing confidential government information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as trade envoy. Released eleven hours later "under investigation." The collective processes this with relish rather than horror: schadenfreude memes proliferate, the old tabloid machinery churns with practised efficiency, and the palace issues measured distance.

The gap reveals a species that has already metabolised its relationship to aristocracy — what once would have been crisis now functions as entertainment.