The unconfirmed rumors of Prince William’s affair with Rose Hanbury have reportedly taken quite an emotional toll on Kate Middleton.
As you’ve likely heard by now, Kate has been absent from public life for the entirety of 2024.
And while observers initially blamed her absence on health issues (Kate underwent an unspecified abdominal surgery in January), many now believe that there’s a different explanation for her hiatus.
And it has to do with the alleged relationship between Kate’s husband and a woman whom she once considered one of her closest friends.
Who Is Rose Hanbury?
Rose Hanbury is a noblewoman whose family has a long history of involvement with the royals.
These days, she and her husband, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, live in Norfolk, not far from Will and Kate’s country house, Anmer Hall.
Allegations of an affair between William and Rose first surfaced in 2019.
Some social media users even went so far as to suggest that William might be the father of Rose’s youngest child.
Mainstream media outlets have picked up on the story over the years, but we should note that there’s never been anything close to confirmation of a romantic relationship between William and Rose.
But the rumors have experienced a major resurgence amid Kate’s disappearance from public life.
And according to a new report from In Touch, the situation has left the Princess of Wales feeling distraught.
“Kate taking her wedding ring off [in a recent family photo] just intensified all the drama surrounding their marriage and the rumors of William’s affair with Rose,” a source exclusively tells the outlet.
“You can’t blame her for being at her wits’ end with the rumors about Rose and William completely haunting her. It’s hurtful, especially because she’s still recovering from major surgery.”
Kate Middleton’s Bizarre Photo Scandal
The photo referred to there is the Mother’s Day image that Kate admitted to editing.
Many have pointed out that Kate is not wearing her wedding ring in the image, but it’s unclear if that’s a result of the editing or if she had actually removed the ring.
Of course, even if Kate was going ringless in real life, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she did so in response to problems within her marriage.
Kate seems to have endured some sort of health issue recently, and many medical procedures require patients to remove their jewelry.
Needless to say, there are a lot of a few unanswered questions here.
And it might be quite some time before we have any credible answers start rolling in.
In the meantime, Kate, William, and everyone involved can be certain that the intense public scrutiny will only continue to increase.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.