All Eyes Are On Rose Hanbury Amid Kate Middleton's PR Nightmare

Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley was friends with Catherine, Princess of Wales for years, but their friendship surely came under strain as rumors swirled in 2019 about an affair between Hanbury and William, Prince of Wales. While Kate likely needs friends around her right now, it's doubtful she'll be turning to Hanbury at this time. Unfortunately, those affair rumors have resurfaced in the wake of Kate's absence from the public eye.

Kate's bad week started with a seemingly sweet Instagram post for Mother's Day in the U.K. featuring her and her three children. It was the first official photo of the princess since she was hospitalized for abdominal surgery in January 2024. However, shortly after it was posted, people started questioning it. Then news agencies decided to pull the photo from publication over concerns about it being edited. Later, n a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Kate confessed to editing her Mother's Day photo, which still remains on Instagram at the time of this report.

One of the things that people noticed in the photo was that Kate wasn't wearing her wedding or engagement ring.  This seems to have added fuel to the fire for those who think that Kate and William are having marital trouble, thanks to this alleged affair between William and Hanbury. In the midst of this, Hanbury has kept a low profile and hasn't commented on any recent rumors.

Along with the ringless photo of Catherine, Princess of Wales on Mother's Day in the U.K., The Independent ran a complimentary profile of Rose Hanbury the next day. That signaled to at least one person on X that it was a "divorce soft launch" for Kate and William, Prince of Wales, that wasn't going well.

Another recent photo of Kate released hasn't helped. This time it was a paparazzi photo, which showed William and Kate leaving Windsor Castle in the back of a car. Some joked on X that it was actually Rose Hanbury next to the prince as all you can see is the side of her face.

The drama over the edited photo adds to the swirling storm of rumors about Kate since she was hospitalized — some think there are details about Kate's surgery that just don't add up. In the Instagram post that confirmed Kate's hospitalization and time out of the public eye, it was confirmed that she would be refraining from public duties until after Easter. Kate's first reported official post-surgery event isn't going to be until June 2024 during Trooping the Colour. So it seems that the family will be fielding (or ignoring) continued calls for answers about Kate's condition until she's back in the public eye.