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In 2019, a British journalist wrote in a since-deleted tweet that “everyone knows” about an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury, a former friend of his wife Kate Middleton. But Catherine’s sister Pippa seemingly put those rumors to rest, albeit in a subtle way, in 2022.
See, Pippa gave birth to a daughter, Rose Louise Victoria, in June 2022. Anyone who has a close relationship with their siblings would know that a sister would never name her daughter after the woman her sister’s husband had an affair with. As Gretchen Weiners would say, “It’s like, the rules of feminism.” So the affair rumors just cannot be true.
Since that infamous tweet, gossip sites have tried—and failed—to continue circulating the Rose Hanbury/Prince William affair but to no avail, the stories have been shut down almost immediately. In Touch published a now-deleted report of Prince William having an affair with Rose Hanbury while Kate Middleton was pregnant with their third child.
A source told the site that Kate “immediately confronted” William, who “just laughed it off saying there was nothing to it.” The site also claimed that Kate ordered William to stop seeing the Cholmondeleys. “Kate sees their friendship in an entirely different light now,” In Touch’s source says, adding that her trust in William has wavered. “They come across as a perfect couple who can do no wrong,” an insider told the site. “But the reality is, most couples have their issues and William and Kate are no different.”
The Daily Beast reported that In Touch’s reports were not true. Courtiers told the site that the story “was totally wrong and false.” The site reported that at least one British publication was served with legal warnings due to the rumors. A letter from the law firm Harbotte and Lewis states that “in addition to being false and highly damaging, the publication of false speculation in respect of our clients’ private life also constitutes a breach of his privacy pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention to Human Rights.”
Of course, since the Princess of Wales’ withdrawal from public life following abdominal surgery in January, all sorts of conspiracy theories have arisen including that the alleged tryst between Rose and William caused Catherine to go into hiding.
A rumor that William and Rose are allegedly expecting a child together went viral on TikTok after user @kylemarisaroth shared a “blind item” that Middleton learned that Hanbury was allegedly pregnant with William’s child around Christmas of 2023, which Hanbury planned to keep.
A former royal staffer told The Daily Beast in March 2024 that William and Kate’s office at Kensington Palace found the rumors “deeply annoying, especially after comedian Stephen Colbert also discussed them in an episode of his talk show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, on March 13.
“It’s deeply annoying and unhelpful for the palace, but it’s not surprising that the affair rumors are being reheated. What else are people supposed to think when she sends out a photo not wearing her wedding ring?” the staffer told The Daily Beast, referencing a recent Instagram photo of Kate, which showed her without her wedding ring.
For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smith’s 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the “real story” behind several storylines featured in Netflix’s The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth II’s life from her childhood as the “heiress presumptive” to her father, King George VI; to the moment he et her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queen’s legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history.
