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Why Prince William Affair Rumors Persist
Prince William continues to be hounded by baseless rumors of alleged infidelity, despite British newspapers having deleted at least 21 articles that either referenced or hinted at unfounded claims of his extra-marital affair with his Norfolk neighbor, Rose Hanbury.
The extensive information removal was uncovered in a detailed report by Vulture journalist Ellie Hall, a former royal correspondent at BuzzFeed.
William’s office did not respond to The Daily Beast’s inquiries about their involvement in having the stories removed. However, The Daily Beast had previously reported on the Palace’s efforts to prevent U.K. outlets, where Palace press officers wield considerable influence, from publishing items regarding the allegations.
Friends of William shared with The Daily Beast that he dismissed the allegations as “water off a duck’s back,” considering them “rubbish on the internet.” However, action was taken when Hanbury, a close friend of William and Princess Catherine, was named in the rumors.
Hanbury denied the allegations through her lawyers when Stephen Colbert joked about the alleged affair during a March 12 Late Show monologue. Colbert mentioned that internet sleuths speculated Kate Middleton’s absence from public life might be related to her husband and the future king, William, having an affair.
Colbert mocked the pronunciation of Rose’s married name, Cholmondeley, as Chumley, and joked that her husband David Rocksavage’s name sounded more like a musician from The Flintstones than a British noble.
Following Colbert’s remarks, Hanbury issued her first public statement denying the rumors, and a legal warning was sent to CBS over Colbert’s comments.
Ellie Hall, the author of the Vulture piece, told The Daily Beast that her story highlighted the removal and editing of numerous online articles without informing readers. She viewed this as a critique of “media transparency.” Hall noted that the ongoing interest in the story exemplified the Streisand effect, suggesting that attempts to hide information only increased public curiosity.
Hall stated, “I think this story would have died on the vine back in 2019 if they hadn’t threatened legal action. The fact that media organizations had been warned off it, as reported by The Daily Beast among others, then became the story. The desire to make the story disappear is the only reason it persists.”
Hall reached out to newspapers that had removed articles, but none responded to her queries, except the Guardian, which claimed it had made changes to a story about the Colbert monologue on its own initiative, not due to “external” pressure.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are greeted by Rose Cholmondeley, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley as they attend a gala dinner in support of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices’ nook appeal at Houghton Hall on June 22, 2016 in King’s Lynn, England.
Stephen Pond/Getty Images
A former senior staffer at the Sun remarked to The Daily Beast, “No one likes killing stories, and it’s always more significant than expected. Many editors oppose it in principle, but it’s a last resort when dealing with major legal threats. If a story is no longer being read, it’s better to remove it retrospectively than to waste funds fighting it.”
Christopher Andersen, author of a new biography of King Charles, told The Daily Beast, “Anyone trying to scrub or alter past coverage of Rose Hanbury’s alleged affair with William faces an impossible task. Ironically, their attempts to clean up past articles only fuel the fire.”
Despite this, William and Catherine’s friends defended the couple’s actions in pushing back against the stories.
One friend said, “I genuinely believe if Rose hadn’t been named, they would have ignored this as just more internet rubbish and wouldn’t have acted. Nonsense stories are insignificant to the royals.” The friend added that the Cholmondeleys are “one of the great families” with a “ceremonial role in the monarchy.”
David, Rose’s husband, who held the inherited position of Lord Great Chamberlain of the U.K. under Queen Elizabeth II, was made a permanent lord-in-waiting to King Charles. When William ascends to the throne, David will resume his role as Lord Great Chamberlain, a position existing since 1126.
Kensington Palace did not return a request for comment.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
Source: The Daily Beast, Vulture, The Guardian
