Sometimes, it feels like rumors and scandals are just one more part of their inheritance for royals like Prince William. Compared to his rebellious brother, William has generally made very few waves in the press, which is a good quality for the future King of England. But nobody can stay out of the headlines forever, and William discovered this when rumors began flying about him having an affair with fellow royal Rose Hanbury.
There was never any real evidence of an affair, but this didn’t keep the press from putting William through the wringer. At the time, many assumed that the muckrakers were effectively putting his marriage through the wringer as well, but that’s when a surprising thing happened: inexplicably, rumors of an affair actually brought William and Kate closer rather than pushing them apart.
What were these rumors, and how did they make William and Kate a stronger couple? Keep reading to discover the answers!
The original rumors of an affair
The original rumors of Prince William having an affair with Rose Hanbury began circulating in 2019. This was before the falling out between William and Harry (at least, the more public one), and the rumor came about thanks to something very innocuous.
After the Daily Mail published an article claiming that Kate Middleton had an epic falling out with Rose Hanbury, going so far as to banish the woman from her inner circle of friends. This naturally prompted people to begin asking why Kate would suddenly have a falling out with someone she was close to…and just like that, rumors that William was having an affair with Hanbury began to circulate.
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The surprising reason why the rumors persist
Arguably, one of the reasons this rumor flourished is because Rose Hanbury is a royal in her own right. She has a fancy title (the Marchioness of Cholmondeley), and this made the idea of an affair seem more plausible…after all, it’s hard to imagine the future King of England snogging a commoner! However, title or no title, this rumor would have likely died down a bit sooner if William had taken direct action.
At least, that’s the conclusion that writer and royal biographer Omid Scobie reached. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he claimed, “They never addressed it, so those rumors will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest that they are true.” In short, Scobie concluded that the fame of being prominent royals was a double-edged sword in this scenario: neither William nor Kate could dignify these salacious rumors without potentially adding fuel to the fire; at the same time, by never firmly denying anything, the royal couple ensured that the rumors will never fully die.
Did these rumors contribute to the feud between William and Harry?
In that same interview with Entertainment Tonight, Omid Scobie brought up another dark possibility regarding the rumored affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury. In referencing how those rumors continue to flourish on social media, Scobie said, “It probably looks even worse, actually, that there was a kind of willingness to throw Harry under the bus simply to make these things disappear.”
What Scobie is apparently referring to here is the alleged willingness of William and the Royal Family to let scandalous headlines concerning Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to flourish in an effort to drive the spotlight away from William himself. This is something Harry himself hinted at in the Harry & Meghan docuseries on Netflix. As Page Six reports, Harry said on his show that the Royal Family was “happy to lie to protect” his brother, but when it came to Harry, the younger prince felt like “I wasn’t being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves.”
RELATED: The Real Story Behind The Prince William & Prince Harry Feud
How the unsubstantiated rumors brought the family closer together
Having the entire world speculating about an affair would be enough to drive most couples apart. However, Prince William and Kate Middleton aren’t “most couples.” Fortunately for these two and their own happily ever after, these rumors of William having an affair with Rose Hanbury actually ended up making their relationship stronger.
Even though William and Kate said nothing about the affair rumors publicly, they had more than a few conversations behind closed doors. According to Us Weekly, one source close to the family revealed that this had surprisingly positive results. “[The rumors] forced her and William to sit back and examine their relationship, which they realized they should have been doing more often.” Furthermore, the couple was “determined to pull through it and are doing a great job at getting their marriage back on track again.”
As nearly as anyone can tell, their efforts were a smashing success. The two seem very happy and loving toward one another in their many public appearances. And it’s good to know that the future king has such a supportive future queen to help him bear the weight of his many royal responsibilities.