Rose Hanbury's Rumored Prince William Affair Isn't Nearly As Messy As Her Sister's Marriage

Those Prince William and Rose Hanbury affair rumors just won't die, but the press seems to have forgotten that Rose, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, has a sister, Marina Hanbury, and her marriage is arguably way messier. The two aristocrats actually have more than just relationship scuttlebutt in common — they also both appear to favor older men too. Rose married David Cholmondeley, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, in 2009. She was 25 at the time while he was 48. And the happy couple had barely announced their engagement before following up with the news that they were expecting a baby.

Similarly, Marina married Ned Lambton, the Earl of Durham, when she was 28 and he was 48. But here's the kicker — Marina used to share an apartment with Ned's son, Fred Lambton, who was once engaged to her sister, Rose. So technically Marina married her sister's former fiancé's father. This is the stuff soap operas are made of. "They got it on just before Christmas. It seems to have progressed at lightning speed and the engagement is now the talk of the town," a source dished to the Daily Mail back in 2010 after the scandalous news about the couple made headlines. But it didn't end there.

Marina fell in love with Ned after he slipped into her Facebook DMs. The earl already had two ex-wives by the time he set his sights on her. He messaged to tell Marina that he'd had a sort of prophetic dream about her. "I know I am way too old for you," Ned wrote, per The Telegraph. "But I love you." Erm, that's a rather odd thing to text someone, but apparently Marina is into that kind of thing. They went out and got married not long after.

While Marina Hanbury's engagement to a man twice her age understandably raised eyebrows at the time, Rose Hanbury has been hogging the spotlight ever since, albeit unintentionally, thanks to the rumors that she and Prince William had an affair. The gossip first started doing the rounds in 2019, with royal insiders claiming that Kate Middleton and her former BFF had a nasty fight and the Princess of Wales no longer wanted William to see Rose as a result. While some unnamed sources were adamant that there was a juicy scandal brewing, others claimed it was nothing but balderdash.

Still, the rumor mill continued to churn, and when Kate mysteriously disappeared from public view for the first few months of 2024, Prince William couldn't escape affair rumors — even late night show host Stephen Colbert cracked a joke about it. Of course, as everyone later learned, the beloved royal's absence was because of her cancer diagnosis rather than her husband's supposed infidelity. The affair rumors didn't keep Rose Hanbury away from the royal family, however. 

Before the gossip made a comeback in 2024, word on the street was that there was no more tension between Kate and the Marchioness of Cholmondeley following King Charles III's coronation at which Rose's son, Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, was a page boy. "They had a chance to speak for the first time in a while and made peace," an insider confirmed to OK! magazine. Still, we can't help but wonder whether there is any lingering awkwardness when the Hanburys all get together for the holidays. Having your sister sit down for Christmas dinner with your former fiancé's father must be uncomfortable.