Though Prince William is in the news, it isn’t for his tour in New Zealand. Rather, the future king is trending on Twitter because of reports of an alleged affair with his pretty country neighbor Rose Hanbury.
The prince is currently trending at nearly 240,000 tweets, and almost all of them detail users’ shock, like Twitter user @drbangtan1, at William potentially cheating on the Duchess of Cambridge.
“Prince William cheated on Kate with someone that used to be a close friend of hers. How do you grow up knowing what your own dad did and decide to jeopardize your marriage for this?”
The story first hit the front pages of the media as a feud between Kate and Rose, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. The two were reportedly good friends — Rose was even voted one of the “best dressed” at Kate and Will’s wedding — so news of Kate freezing out a friend raised eyebrows.
However, it was only when William began threatening legal action that reporters began to dig deeper to see what the smoke was all about. A food reporter from The Times only fanned the flames when he seemed to confirm whispers of an affair in a deleted tweet, captured on Lainey Gossip .
“Everyone knows about the affair, darling.”
As reported earlier by The Inquisitr , there were rumors that Prince William had thus issued a media blackout on the issue. However, while the royal family may hold sway with the British media, they have little control over Twitter.
Many users were particularly upset that William, who had seen the disastrous consequences of extra-marital affairs firsthand with Charles and Diana, would follow the same path.
A number of users were horrified that William’s reported cheating happened while Kate was pregnant with Prince Louis. The young prince just turned one on April 23.
However, the overwhelming sentiment on Twitter was disgust at the hypocrisy of the British tabloids. Many believe that the British media are particularly critical of new royal Meghan Markle over minor offenses, begging the question of why they did not hold Prince William to a similar standard.
April Reign, the founder of #oscarssowhite, used a Game of Thrones meme to express her anger.
British press: When you’re a royal and we pay your taxes, all parts of your life are up for grabs. How dare Harry and Meagan not share details about the birth of their child?!!
Also British press: Prince William’s alleged infidelity w/ Kate’s best friend is a private matter. pic.twitter.com/OL3Nhpw5FE
— April is in Tulum (@ReignOfApril) April 25, 2019
Rainy Milo, a British recording artist, concurred the sentiment.
“The car door” references when Meghan Markle shut the door of her car at her first royal event. The British tabloids went into overdrive with articles such as The Independent’s “Meghan Markle shut her own car door and it has genuinely caused a debate.”
Though the rumors are just that — rumors — many users hope that since social media seems to be covering the story, the traditional media will be forced to examine the issue.