Royals 'desperate' to quash rumour William cheated on Kate with longtime friend

Kensington Palace reportedly 'pulled out all the stops' to stop a rumour that Prince William cheated on Kate Middleton with their longtime friend Rose Hanbury, according to royal author Omid Scobie's new book Endgame.

In the book, Omid claims press secretary Christian Jones tried to put a stop to The Sun, who first reported the rumours, from continuing to dig around for details of the story.

"Christian was so desperate to stop [the rumour] and made it his mission to do so," a former courtier reportedly told Omid, who claims Christian told him the situation was "stressing" him out and he eventually promised the newspaper other royal scoops "in exchange for standing down on the rumours".

The author shared that by June 2019, The Sun "suddenly pulled reporters off the hunt", and was reportedly told by a high-level courtier that "Christian helped make it end".

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Around this time, Omid claims the tabloid began shifting its focus to writing "a series of revealing stories" about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight this week, Omid revealed he was "very careful" about how he wrote about the claims William cheated with Rose while Kate was pregnant with their third child, as well as the Princess of Wales' 'fallout' with the former friend.

"For legal reasons there are so many things that one can’t go into, but I thought it was really important, even if a rumour is a rumour," he said. "And I really don’t see proof that there is more to this than just a tittle-tattle."

Omid added that he believed the speculation continued because William and Kate "never addressed it".

"Those rumours will never go away even though there’s no truth to suggest that they are true," he said.

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However, William's legal team did shut down the allegations in April 2019, telling British publications, "In addition to being false and highly damaging, the publication of false speculation in respect of our clients’ private life also constitutes a breach of his privacy pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention to Human Rights."

The rumours were never confirmed to be true, and Rose was seen at King Charles' coronation earlier this year, making it look unlikely that she had a falling out with William and Kate.

Rose's family have ties to the royal family, with her paternal grandmother, Lady Rose Lambert, being a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth II's wedding to Prince Philip.

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