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Since Kate-Gate first picked up steam, everyone and their mom has been fighting to figure out the real reason for Kate Middleton’s retreat from public view (conveniently forgetting that she had surgery in January).
One of the theories sweeping the internet is that Middleton was stewing about an alleged infidelity by Prince William. In fact, palace watchers have latched on to an old rumor that he’d had an affair with the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, aka Sarah Rose Hanbury.
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Who, exactly, is Rose Hanbury, and why are people in a tizzy about the alleged affair now? Find out everything you need to know, ahead.
Who Is Rose Hanbury?
Hanbury is a 40-year-old former model and political staffer (she was briefly a researcher for Conservative politician Michael Gove) with strong ties to the royal family. She's also currently at the center of public speculation surrounding problems in Kate Middleton and Prince William's marriage.
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Rose Hanbury's Royal Connections
Hanbury is married to David Rocksavage, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, making her the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. She is also the mother of three children.
Her husband Lord Cholmondeley is a descendant of the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, and his family seats (AKA grand estates) are Houghton Hall in Norfolk and Cholmondeley Castle near Malpas, Cheshire. The former house just happens to be right near Anmer Hall, Kate Middleton and Prince William's former home, but more on that later.
Beyond her husband, Hanbury has her own ties to the royal family. Her maternal grandmother, Lady Elizabeth Lambart, was one of Queen Elizabeth II's bridesmaids at her wedding to Prince Philip.
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How Rumors Around Rose Hanbury's Relationship With Prince William Started in 2019
In 2019, the British press reported that Kate Middleton had experienced a rift with Hanbury, a friend and neighbor with ancestral ties to the royal family who lived just four miles away from William and Kate in Norfolk. The two women had become friends when the royals lived at Anmer Hall while Prince William worked as a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service from 2015 to 2017. The Sun called Hanbury Middleton’s “rural rival” and claimed the two women had fallen out for reasons unknown. (The article has since been pulled from the website.)
The women's alleged rift became fodder for public speculation about what, exactly, had occurred behind the scenes, with rumors of an alleged affair between Hanbury and Prince William running rampant. But British reporter Richard Kay soon published a Daily Mail story attempting to set the record straight, claiming both parties were considering legal action. The speculation died down — even after British columnist Giles Coren tweeted (and soon deleted), “Everyone knows about the affair, darling.”
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Rose Hanbury's Royal Appearances
Photos of the Prince and Princess of Wales socializing with Hanbury and Rocksavage at royal events surfaced over the next few years, and everything seemed copacetic again. The Marchioness attended Prince Phillip's memorial in 2022 and Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September of the same year. Her son was even a page at King Charles’s coronation, which Hanbury also attended.
In 2023, a source told the Daily Beast that “there has never been any enmity between Kate and Rose. The rumors were all a load of rubbish. The family are ancient allies of the Crown.”
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How Rumors of a Royal Entanglement Resurfaced in 2024
However, the William-and-Rose infidelity chatter picked back up again in March 2024 when Princess Kate all but disappeared from the public following her abdominal surgery.
As speculation mounted, Stephen Colbert made a dig about Hanbury and William on his late-night show, saying, “The Kingdom has been all a flutter about the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton. Well, now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband and the future King of England, William, having an affair. I think we all know who the alleged other woman is. Say it with me: the Marchioness of Cholmondeley."
Colbert’s bit prompted even more royal watchers to latch onto the alleged affair, speculating that it may have had something to do with Kate's recent retreat from the public eye. “It’s deeply annoying and unhelpful for the Palace, but it’s not surprising that the affair rumors are being reheated,” a source explained to OK about the theories. “What else are people supposed to think when she sends out a photo not wearing her wedding ring?”
Other royal experts like Omid Scobie say there's not enough evidence to confirm the alleged infidelity. “They never addressed it, so those rumors will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest that they are true," Scobie told Entertainment Tonight last year. However, the author does allege that the royal family "threw Harry under the bus" in order to distract from the rumor about William in a comment on his new book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival.
Hanbury Responds to Affair Speculation in 2024
After days of intense speculation, a farm stand appearance by Kate Middleton, and countless TikTok conspiracy theories, Hanbury finally publicly addressed the scandal. On March 19, her lawyer told Business Insider that “the rumors are completely false."
Will this finally quell the obsessive chatter? Probably not, but until there's definitive evidence, the alleged affair between Hanbury and Prince William will remain unsubstantiated.
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