Sometimes drama just happens—you show up at a charity event and your rival is there and before you know it you’re screaming at each other and producers are getting it all on film, they love it! But sometimes drama percolates—a whisper in the wind gathers momentum, a tumbleweed roars across the barren tabloid…

The Saudi royals are not like you and me: they’re rich as hell and drama seems to follow them wherever they go, so maybe in a sense maybe they’re more like you and me than we ever realized. But this week that nebulous cloud of drama hanging overhead took a dark turn, as a prince accused of rape vanished into thin air.