Here's What Rose Hanbury Reportedly Had To Say About Those Prince William Affair Rumors

People have been worrying about Catherine, Princess of Wales, not only since her abrupt disappearance from the limelight for a planned surgery, but also because a photo intended to show the public that she was on the mend backfired when it was clearly heavily edited. Conspiracies about Kate Middleton exploded after the photo was released, further fomenting the notion that her husband, William, Prince of Wales, was having an affair with Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley — a rumor that he can't seem to escape.

The talk surrounding Kate, William, and Hanbury have gone so far in the collective zeitgeist that even talk show host Stephen Colbert commented on it in his monologue on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which was posted on March 13. "I think we all know who the alleged other woman is. Say it with me: the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. What a beautiful name," he comically stated.

Hanbury, a friend of the royal family, finally felt the need to clear the air, and according to a Business Insider report from March 16, 2024, her attorneys released a statement saying, "The rumours are completely false." Kensington Palace has also chosen to remain silent, and up until this point, the rumors are just that — rumors, with no alleged witnesses to any kind of extramarital relationship between William and Hanbury.

As The New York Post reported on March 18, 2024, Rose Hanbury is married to Prince William's friend, David Rocksavage, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. The two couples are neighbors, with Rocksavage and Hanbury residing on an estate called Houghton Hall in Norfolk, England, while William and Kate Middleton have their own mansion called Anmer Hall, which is a Georgian-style building that was built in 1802, per Town and Country. The Post also noted that Lady Elizabeth Lambart, Hanbury's grandmother, became a bridesmaid at the 1947 wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, so her family and the Windsors have been intertwined for decades.

Per Vanity Fair, The Sun reported in 2019 that Middleton and Hanbury were "longtime friends" who entered into a feud — but no one knows why. The two have never commented on it, but the newspaper described Hanbury as someone who likes to climb social ladders, and often had lavish dinner parties with Middleton.

In March 2019, Daily Mail writer Richard Kay posted an article about the feud which the two women describe as a "rural rivalry." He remarked about the situation, stating, "I am told the rumours of a falling out between these two attractive young women are false." Kay further revealed that "both sides have considered legal action but, because none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it."

Although Rose Hanbury addressed and rebuked these rumors on March 16, 2024, the speculation about a too-close-for-comfort connection between Hanbury and the future King of England actually began half a decade earlier. The origin story of this gossip seems to start with British writer Giles Coren, who tweeted (and then deleted) that the feud between Hanbury and Catherine, Princess of Wales, was because of Hanbury's affair with William, Prince of Wales (via Lainey Gossip).

Coren provided no evidence to back up his claims, but the rumor still gained traction within the tabloid media, and it has been a simmering speculation ever since. Up until Hanbury's statement, neither couple has addressed the rumors, and they have continued to attend the same public events, which seemingly lends some credence to the possibility that there's no substance to this scandal.

While Prince William and Rose Hanbury have been subjected to whispers about their relationship ever since Coren's fateful tweet, Hanbury decided to finally address the allegations once those whispers got louder. And, despite the surprising persistence of these rumors, no real evidence of an affair has been discovered in the five years since the buzz about it began.