In the bombshell book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival author Omid Scobie wrote about the alleged affair between Prince William and Kate Middleton's former best friend Rose Hanbury and all the rumors that surrounded it. Now, the author has opened up about the reported relationship from all those years ago, and he explained why he thinks this rumor “will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest” that it’s valid.
Omid Scobie, who is a royal expert and the author of Endgame, addressed these massive rumors about Prince William and how they have spread in his new book. While chatting with ET, he explained that there’s absolutely no evidence to back these allegations up, however, there’s a reason why they’re still floating around. He said:
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. They never addressed it, so those rumors will never go away even though there's no truth to suggest that they are true.
Back in April of 2019 rumors about the Prince of Wales and Hanbury started to float around when a tabloid reported them. The article noted that these allegations also came up after Kate Middleton was seen out with her husband seemingly giving him the cold shoulder. Then, Rose Hanbury was at King Charles’ coronation, and while Prince Harry’s attendance (and swift exit) was the talk of the town during the event, apparently her presence was also spoken about, and it sort of reignited the rumor.
The article noted that this seemed like a sensitive subject to Scobie as he explained how he wrote about this rumor regarding Prince William and Rose Hanbury in his book. Explaining how these allegations were incorporated into Endgame, the royal expert said:
I was very careful in the book to really focus on this, as the allegations against William, Kate's and their fallout with Rose Hanbury. 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 went on to note that the palace hasn’t said anything about the matter, and he found that “interesting to analyze.” Scobie explained that the “worst case scenarios” of this rumor is that it would have a negative impact on Prince William’s reputation. Continuing to explain his opinion on the issue and how the allegation has persisted over the years, he said:
We still see them [the rumors] trend on Twitter on a regular basis ... that's something that's incredibly damaging, I think, for William. 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.
Scobie’s thoughts on the alleged affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury comes after his book made headlines last week for describing a letter where Meghan Markle reportedly named two royals who made racist comments about her family. The revelation of these comments became a mainstream conversation in 2021 when Prince Harry and Markle spoke to Oprah Winfrey about it during their major interview.
Much like how the revelations and allegations made in Prince Harry's Spare had a seemingly negative impact on Prince William and Kate Middleton, this reignited rumor could do the same, as Scobie suggested. However, he also made it clear that he does not believe that it is anything more than a rumor.
Following the release of Spare Prince William allegedly had strong feelings about it, so it will be interesting to see if we learn about his thoughts on this latest book about the royals. If we do, or if the palace says anything about the rumor, we'll be sure to keep you posted.
