Prince William Won’t Address Rose Hanbury Affair Rumors Directly, Why is That?
Prince William has been bedeviled by rumors of an affair with a friend of his wife, and he has steadfastly refused to directly deny them. So, why has the Duke of Cambridge refused to address rumors that could very well tear apart his marriage and his extended family?
Who Is This Rose Hanbury?
As Refinery 29 reports, Rose, 35, is (or was, depending on whom you ask) a friend of Will’s wife, Kate Middleton. She’s described as “royal-adjacent,” which is a polite way of saying she’s not directly connected to the family by blood, but she is via money and prestige. She even holds a royal title, Marchioness Of Cholmondeley.
She and her family own property near one of the estates owned by the Windsors, and the two families, as well as other aristocratic English families with connections to Will and Kate, are part of a group of friends known as the “Turnip Toffs.” Whenever possible, they socialize and host events such as garden parties or playdates with their children — Rose and her husband, David Rocksavage, have three kids.
The Rumors Start Flying
The rumor of William’s supposed affair with Rose is actually the second half of a two-part set of rumors. The rumors began a few weeks ago when British tabloids began reporting that Kate wanted to “phase out” the Cholmondeleys from their friendship circle, for reasons that remain unclear.
From there, it didn’t take long for someone to conclude that the reason for the bad blood between the women was that Will was cheating on Kate with Rose.
So Why Won’t William Just Come Out And Say Something?
There are several reasons for Will keeping quiet about the rumored affair.
For one thing, as Cheat Sheet reports, the Crown makes it a specific point not to respond to rumors, only doing so in exceptionally rare circumstances. That’s partly because the family is subjected to so many rumors that, if they did respond to them, the family’s media relations wing would spend all day, every day, responding to rumors.
When the family does address rumors, they generally respond with a vague, non-descript answer. For example, when rumors swirled last week that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were going to move to Africa, the Palace responded with a vague statement that Harry would “continue to fulfill his role as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador,” as The Inquisitr reported at the time.
In a larger sense, though, issuing a response to a rumor is, in its own way, a sign that the rumor deserves attention. If William was to take time out of his day to say even something so brief as “this is all not true,” he would be tacitly admitting that the rumor is, at the very least, something worthy of his time. And for now anyway, he wants to portray the image that the rumor is so ridiculous that it’s not worth addressing.
