Kensington Palace “pulled out all the stops” to quash a rumor that Prince William cheated on Kate Middleton with longtime pal Rose Hanbury, a new book claims.
Royal expert Omid Scobie writes in “Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival” that press secretary Christian Jones allegedly tried repeatedly to get the Sun — the first outlet to inquire about the affair allegations — to stop digging into the story.
“Christian was so desperate to stop [the rumor] and made it his mission to do so,” a former courtier told Scobie.
The author claims Jones even told him that the entire ordeal was “stressing” him out and eventually promised a journalist from the Sun other royal-related scoops “in exchange for standing down on the rumors.”
Scobie writes that by June 2019, the Sun “suddenly pulled reporters off the hunt,” and he was allegedly told by a high-level courtier that “Christian helped make it end.”
He also claims the tabloid shifted its focus to writing “a series of revealing stories” about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Scobie told “Entertainment Tonight” Thursday that he was “very careful” about how he addressed the claims that William, 41, had cheated with Hanbury, 39, when Middleton, also 41, was pregnant with their third child as well as the Princess of Wales’ alleged “fallout” with the couple’s onetime friend.
“For legal reasons there are so many things that one can’t go into, but I thought it was really important, even if a rumor is a rumor,” he said. “And I really don’t see proof that there is more to this than just a tittle-tattle.”
Scobie speculated that the hearsay has run rampant for years because William and Middleton “never addressed it,” adding, “Those rumors will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest that they are true.”
However, William’s lawyers did shut down the cheating allegations in April 2019.
Attorneys with London law firm Harbottle & Lewis told British publications at the time, “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.”
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Neither Scobie nor news outlets confirmed the rumors were true, and Hanbury was seen attending King Charles III’s coronation earlier this year, somewhat dispelling rumors that she is on the outs with the royals.
However, Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who is married to David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, did not pose for pictures with William or Middleton at the historic ceremony.
In the past, Hanbury had been seen socializing with the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Her family has longstanding ties to the royals: Hanbury’s paternal grandmother, Lady Rose Lambert, was a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth II’s 1947 wedding to Prince Philip.
