Rose Hanbury is prepared to take legal action to shut down speculation that she had an affair with Prince William.
In Touch confirmed that Hanbury’s lawyers sent a legal notice to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after Stephen Colbert poked fun at rumors she was unfaithful with William in 2019 — and linked the alleged affair to speculation about Princess Kate Middleton‘s whereabouts as she recovers from surgery.
“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,” Hanbury’s lawyers said in a statement. “We have written on our client’s behalf to CBS and various other reputable media organizations to confirm that the allegation is false.”
Colbert rehashed the drama on The Late Show on March 12.
“Internet sleuths are guessing that Kate’s absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair,” he began. “I think we all know who the alleged other woman is, say it with me, The Marchioness of Cholmondeley. Now there have been rumors of an affair between William and [Rose] since 2019. According to tabloids, back then, when Kate supposedly confronted him about it, he ‘laughed it off, saying there was nothing to it.’ Aha, always a good response when your wife accuses you of cheating.”
The host noted that Hanbury is an “an old friend of the royals” who is married to “a close friend of William’s” David Rocksavage.
“Really? Rocksavage? That sounds less like a British noble and more like a musician from the Flintstones,” he joked.
Hanbury’s lawyers previously denied that she and William had an affair in a statement to Business Insider earlier this month. At the time the speculation first surfaced, the pair did not acknowledge the rumors.
“Kate finds the rumors hurtful, obviously, and hates the thought that one day her children will be able to read about them online,” a source told Us Weekly in 2019. “It forced her and William to sit back and examine their relationship, which they realized they should have been doing more often.”
William and Kate, who wed in 2011, share three kids: Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
