Speculation was rife in 2019 that William, Prince of Wales, cheated on Catherine, Princess of Wales, with Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley. The rumors sprung from a report in The Sun that the two women had a falling out, resulting in Kate insisting Hanbury be excluded from their clique. It was claimed that William was playing peacemaker between the pair.
The speculation grew into rumors of an affair between William and Hanbury. “I know about the affair. Everybody knows about the affair, darling,” broadcaster Giles Coran wrote in a now-deleted post on X, formerly known as Twitter. He later claimed he was joking. The rumor gained steam after the gossip account Deux Mois (via In Touch) posted a claim from an anonymous tipster. “This British royal’s extramarital affair is an open secret in London and amongst the English artisto set and is the talk of every party and news desk,” it read.
Omid Scobie seemingly backed up the rumors in his book “Endgame,” claiming the Firm fed negative stories about Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex to the tabloids in return for their silence. He later said that he didn’t believe the affair claims were valid but that they would never disappear as the royals refused to publicly deny them. “Unfortunately, if a rumor’s left to kind of do its own thing, it can run 20 laps around the world,” Scobie told Entertainment Tonight in November 2023.
