Who Is Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness at the Center of Prince William Affair Rumors

The internet loves nothing more than a good royal conspiracy theory, and thanks to the “Where Is Kate Middleton?” discourse occupying everyone’s time, Twitter has dusted off allegations that Prince William cheated on Kate Middleton with her “rural rival,” Rose Hanbury.

At this point you’ve probably seen Rose’s name enough to have some vague awareness that she’s a fancy Marchioness who runs in fancy royal circles. But we’re here for a full deep dive.

First, a Refresher on 2019’s Rumors

On the fated day of March 23, The Sun claimed Kate had a falling-out with Rose, an allegation the duchess was NOT pleased about (she reportedly even “considered legal action” against the paper). While the tabloid didn’t touch on the cheating claims explicitly, they did report Kate asked Prince William to have Rose “phased out” of their friend group.

Then American tabloid In Touch *went there*, reporting William may have had an affair with Rose, which Kate had supposedly confronted him about. And on top of that, writer Nicole Cliffe tweeted (it’s since been deleted) a thread breaking down all the layers to these rumors and it promptly went viral. (Important note: The rumor itself is still to this day alleged and unsubstantiated, so take it with a massive grain of salt.)

Since ^ all this ^, there have been several indications that Kate and Rose are still on good terms. Like, just last year Kate reportedly had dinner with Rose and then they secretly attended a festival together.

And Rose was at both Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021 *and* King Charles’ coronation in 2023.

Plus, in 2020, Kate and William were photographed on the same church walk as Rose:

Rose Has an Impossible-to-Pronounce Title

Rose is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley! Take a guess at how to pronounce that, and nope, wrong. Cholmondeley is somehow, inexplicably, pronounced “Chumley” and I’m still waiting for an explanation.

Her Husband Is Older…and Very Rich

Rose is married to David George Philip Cholmondeley, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, who’s also been known to go by the Viscount Malpas, the Earl of Rocksavage, and the Lord Great Chamberlain of the United Kingdom. If you can’t tell from all these, um, casual titles, this dude is Downton Abbey-levels of extra.

David, 63, also happens to be a filmmaker, but I promise you’ve never seen or heard of any of his movies, so let’s not even get into it. His taste in shoes, however, I’d very much like to get into:

Rose Puts the “Rural” in Rural Rival

So apparently Rose and David live just a few miles from Anmer Hall, Kate and William’s country home. Rose and David’s place is also a hall (Houghton Hall, to be exact), but it makes Anmer Hall look like a quaint cottage. Houghton Hall has been the ancestral home of the Marquesses of Cholmondeley forever, and you can legit go visit thanks to some of the rooms being open to the public.

The house is also known for its art collection, and in 1994, the Cholmondeleys sold a bunch of its pictures, furniture, and objets d’art for $23 million at auction to fund an endowment for maintaining the estate. Of course, this isn’t their only home. Don’t be silly. They also own a castle.

In any case, Rose used to be super active on the official Houghton Hall Instagram and would often post glamorous shots of herself—before they were all seemingly deleted amid 2019’s rumor mill.

She’s a Former Model

David married Rose in 2009 when she was just 25, working as a fashion model-turned-researcher. But make no mistake: Her background is also very posh. Rose’s maternal grandmother is Lady Elizabeth Lambart, who happens to be the daughter of the 10th Earl of Cavan. And if you’re looking for a royal connection, Lady Elizabeth Lambart was one of Queen Elizabeth II’s bridesmaids.

And She Has Three Very Cute Kids

Rose and David have twin sons named Alexander Hugh George and Oliver Timothy George, and thanks to being ever-so-slightly older, Alexander is the heir apparent to the Marquessate and gets the title Earl of Rocksavage. Though Oliver got to be one of King Charles’ pages at the coronation!

In 2016, Rose and David welcomed a daughter named Lady Iris Marina Aline Cholmondeley. She’s adorable:

Kate and Rose Are Patrons of the Same Charity

‘Kay, so here’s where people speculate about the “rival” part of rural rival. Apparently Rose and Kate are both patrons of the EACH charity. Which is honestly great! Let’s be real, two women can help other people without fighting about it.

That’s all—but while wrapping this up, can I just take a moment to point out that David is also friends with the Middletons? Here he is walking to church in Sandringham with Kate’s mom, Carol:

And that’s it! You’ve earned your internet PhD in Rose Hanbury, congrats!