Rose Hanbury’s Surprising Response to Kate Middleton’s Cancer Diagnosis After Prince William Affair Rumors

While rumors of their affair have been put to bed, Rose Hanbury has responded to Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis by reportedly stepping into the Princess of Wales’ inner friendship circle. In March, 2024, Middleton announced she’d been diagnosed with an undisclosed type of the disease.

According to ok.co.uk, Hanbury has been a rock for Middleton during this stressful time, as well as other close friends Emilia Jardine-Patersosn, Sophie Snuggs, and Lady Laura Meade. “Kate feels more at home in Norfolk,” an insider explained. “She’s got several close friends there…Those friends are the ones she can discuss anything with while she can be rather closed off to others.”

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Related: Prince William’s & Rose Hanbury‘s Alleged Affair Timeline

Hanbury, otherwise known as the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chum-ley), and Middleton have been friends for years—despite the fact that rumors circulated for years about William’s alleged infidelity with Hanbury. These rumors have repeatedly been proven false.

Royal expert Nick Bullen told Us Weekly: “I know people who know the Marchioness of Cholmondeley very, very well, and she absolutely was not having an affair with the Prince of Wales. Even when those rumors broke a few years ago, she was very upset by them then. She’s still very upset by them now.”

After Stephen Colbert made a joke at her expense about the affair, Hanbury’s lawyers sent a legal notice. In a statement to In Touch, lawyers for Rose Hanbury said: “The rumor appears to have entered into the mainstream media recently as a result of another joke made about it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. We have written on our client’s behalf to CBS and various other reputable media organizations to confirm that the allegation is false.”

In a since-deleted article, The Sun reported that Middleton had asked Prince William to have Hanbury “phased” out from their inner circle of friends. Prince William’s role in all of it was simply a husband trying to get his wife to get along with a neighbor. (Rose and her husband, David, live in a neighboring estate to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s country manor, Amner Hall)

Daily Mail reported that the falling out was indeed false and both parties “considered legal action.” Though they chose not to go forward with it since “none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it.”