Lady Rose Hanbury found herself back in the public eye earlier this month after rumors of an affair with Prince William resurfaced. Though they are false, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, 40, is reportedly struggling with the unwanted attention. Royal expert Nick Mullen weighed in on how Lady Rose is feeling about the negativity.
“I know people who know the Marchioness of Cholmondeley very, very well, and she absolutely was not having an affair with the Prince of Wales,” Nick said in an interview with Us Weekly on Tuesday, March 19. “Even when those rumors broke a few years ago, she was very upset by them then. She’s still very upset by them now.”
While describing the rumors as total “rubbish,” Nick also pointed out that William, 41, “saw the damage that affairs can cause,” referring to his father, King Charles III, and late mother Princess Diana‘s divorce in the 1990s. “What I’m told [is], it’s just not in [William’s] psyche [to engage in an extramarital affair],” the editor-in-chief of True Royalty TV added.
For years there were rumours that Prince William has been having an affair with Rose Hanbury. And it's been said that Kate Middleton and Prince William fed Harry and Meghan to the British Media to prevent the affair becoming public.
Well, the US Media has made the affair public. pic.twitter.com/o2Am5pRJGO
— Carmen's Granddaughter (@CarmenGranddau1) March 13, 2024
False reports about an affair between Lady Rose and the Prince of Wales were released in 2019 by several outlets in the U.S. and the U.K. Kensington Palace did not publicly address the speculation at the time. Although the rumors eventually dwindled, they resurfaced earlier this month amid Princess Kate‘s absence from the public eye following her abdominal surgery in January. Fans of the British royal family have questioned whether the palace has been lying about Kate’s whereabouts and her health condition. Some have even alleged that there are AI-generated photos of the Princess of Wales, 42, despite her recent outing with William.
Lady Rose responded to the baseless affair rumors this week through her lawyer. “The rumors are completely false,” her attorney said, per Business Insider.
The damage had already been done, though. The affair speculation became so popular that even late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert referenced the drama on his show last week.
“The kingdom has been all a flutter about the seeming disappearance of Kate Middleton,” the 59-year-old comedian said during the March 12 episode of The Late Show. “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. … According to tabloids back then, when Kate supposedly confronted him about it, he laughed it off, saying ‘there was nothing to it.’ Aha, always a good response when your wife accuses you of cheating. ‘Haha, imagine me having an affair? It is to laugh.'”