Prince William's Name Was On Everyone's Lips When His Rumored Mistress Gave Birth

Rose Hanbury welcomed her daughter, Iris Marina Aline Cholmondeley, into the world in March 2016, and as photos of her began to emerge, all eyes — and whispers — instantly turned to Prince William. Hanbury, who is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, has long been part of the inner circle of the royal family. A close neighbor to William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, she seemed a natural presence at royal gatherings. 

But in 2019, rumors surfaced about a supposedly intimate relationship between Rose Hanbury and the Prince of Wales — rumors that intensified after the public began to draw comparisons between Hanbury's young daughter and William. However, Iris was born three years before InTouch wrote the initial exposé about William and Hanbury's supposed affair. Apparently, the pair's alleged dalliance goes way back. Netizens on X were full of chatter that William fathered not just Iris, but all three of Hanbury's children. While none of these rumors have ever been corroborated, the public likened Iris' features to William's, with one X user comparing Iris and Princess Charlotte's "dirty blond hair and big teeth" to the Prince of Wales'. Furthermore, others found it noteworthy that Hanbury's son, Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, served as a page of honor at King Charles' 2023 coronation, even after years of affair rumors.

In 2024, the marchioness had had enough of the gossip after talk-show host Stephen Colbert made jokes about the cheating scandal amid Princess Catherine's disappearance from public life. After working with attorneys to squash the rumors, Rose Hanbury sent a legal notice to Stephen Colbert, denying an affair.

Princess Catherine has had issues with Prince William's inner circle long before Rose Hanbury entered the picture. The prince was involved with several women before meeting his future wife, which social media users have suggested didn't end there. As well as being linked to Hanbury's daughter, Iris Cholmondeley, and her older twin brothers, Earl Alexander Cholmondeley and Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, the rumor mill threw William's name in with other aristocratic children. Chatter across different social media platforms proposed that William and his ex-girlfriend, Jecca Craig, share a baby together. Again, none of these rumors carry any substantial weight.

Many netizens hinted at the apple not falling far from the tree as King Charles III was plagued with cheating rumors with Camilla, Queen Consort, for much of the 1980s and '90s. Wagging tongues online even compared Camilla's son, Tom Parker-Bowles, to the Windsors. Furthermore, many believe that Prince Philip fathered illegitimate children after his will was kept private out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II, who was still alive at the time. "Prince Philip got 3 secret kids in that will," read one tweet. The late prince faced many affair rumors following the several depictions of him in "The Crown" liaising with women other than his wife, such as Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova and royal family friend Penny Knatchbull.