Prince William’s Rumored Affair With Rose Hanbury Was 'Incredibly Damaging' to His Reputation

In 2019, there were accusations of Prince William having an affair with friend and Marchioness of Cholmondeley Rose Hanbury. Despite the lack of evidence, Omid Scobie explored the harm the hearsay had on William, his wife, Kate Middleton, and their public image in his new book, Endgame.

“Unfortunately, if a rumor’s left to kind of do its own thing, it can run 20 laps around the world before you even think about what, how you want to kind of address it,” the writer explained. "They never addressed it, so those rumors will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest that they are true."

Scobie noted that Kensington Palace was worried the headlines would “impact negatively on William’s reputation."

“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. And I really don’t see proof that there is more to this than just a tittle-tattle, you know," he continued.

The alleged infidelity became increasingly popular on social media platforms.

“[The rumors] trend on Twitter on a regular basis,” Scobie said. “That’s something that’s incredibly damaging, I think, for William."

Aside from William's connection to Hanbury, the journalist doubled down on his imputation that William leaked stories about Prince Harry to minimize the bad press surrounding his marriage.

“It probably looks even worse, actually, that there was a kind of willingness to throw Harry under the bus simply to make these things disappear,” he continued.

“There’s definitely a feeling that those days were like dark times, and lines were crossed on all sides. Now, none of that’s ever publicly admitted but it’s certainly acknowledged by a few,” Scobie said in a separate interview.

While chatting with insiders for Endgame, Scobie claimed the former Head of Communications for Kensington Palace Christian Jones revealed William was offended by the ongoing assumption.

“Oh my God, I had to ask if they [the rumors] were true,” Jones reportedly told Scobie, adding William was “furious when the question came up."

As more gossip surrounded the Prince of Wales, there was an increase in negative stories focused on Harry's bride, Meghan Markle.

“There was a nice stream of Harry and Meghan stuff coming in so [the editors] were happy,” Scobie stated.

Harry even wondered if someone at the Palace had helped move certain [journalists] on to other stories — and away from the Rose gossip. He would later find out he was right," he continued.

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In the docuseries Harry & Meghan, the Duke of Sussex said The Firm was guilty of "planting stories," and Scobie's book aligned with the prince's tell-all.

"There was a long list of things that Harry and Megan experienced during the time as working royals that largely involved information about them being used as currency, to avoid crises and other area," Scobie said.

“Anatomizing the rollout of what went on behind the scenes gives us a better understanding of how the fractures between William and Harry were hammered on and and sort of why we’ve reached this moment of no return," he concluded.

Scobie spoke to Entertainment Tonight.

Scobie's second interview was with SheKnows.