Rumors of Prince William Stepping out With Lady Rose Hanbury Are Back! Is She Still Married?

In August 2023, The Independent reported that Kate Middleton attended a rave at the request of her old pal Lady Rose Hanbury. The annual Houghton Festival is held at Houghton Hall, the estate owned by the Marquess of Cholmondeley and his wife, the aforementioned Rose. Though the festival caters to the upper crust, it "specialises in electronic music, with previous line ups including BBC Radio 6 Music regular Afrodeutsche, legendary DJ Fumiya Tanaka, and London-based DJ Call Super."

The Princess of Wales was fresh from a dinner with the couple in their home, which came as a surprise to anyone familiar with the rumors about Lady Rose Hanbury and Prince William. In 2019, "allegations of an affair between the future King of England and Rose — one of Kate's closest friends — first surfaced in April, after a U.K. tabloid first sparked the rumor," per Entertainment Tonight.

In March 2024, the gossip gears started turning again as conspiracy theories about Kate being suspiciously absent from the public eye flooded social media. The alleged affair between Prince William and Lady Rose Hanbury was resurrected as folks scrambled to wonder why Kate Middleton hadn't been seen since December 2023. This left folks wondering if Rose Hanbury is still married. Here's what we know.

As of the time of this writing, no official announcements have been made about Lady Rose Hanbury and David Rocksavage, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley getting a divorce. In June 2009, The Telegraph announced the couple's engagement which despite their age difference, was well-received. "No one has had more fun being single than David, but there comes a point when even a man with his energy has to commit himself to one person," said a friend of David's to the outlet.

David was a 48-year-old filmmaker who met the 23-year-old Rose in 2003 when she was only 19. Fast forward two decades later to May 2023 when the happy couple gave the Financial Times a tour of their incredible home. They live there with their three children, "twins Alexander Hugh George Cholmondeley, Earl of Rocksavage, and Lord Oliver Timothy George Cholmondeley, both 15, and daughter Lady Iris Marina Aline Cholmondeley, aged eight," via The Independent.

In a separate piece about their estate in The English Home magazine, Rose shared that David has better taste than she does but he does frequently solicit her opinion. "We work really well together as a team and are both similar in that we like to reuse as much as possible, finding material from the attic and so on," she said.

David was once considered the catch of England though as he told Vanity Fair in April 2013, there wasn't any truth to that nickname. "In his 20s and 30s he gained a reputation as a rake and playboy, since he moved with a fast crowd that included Mick Jagger and photographer François-Marie Banier, and he dated actresses and models," reported the outlet. Despite the birds of a feather with whom he flocked, David's friends said his playboy persona was never deserved.

After his children were born, many described David as "shy and reserved," which was a welcome change for the former filmmaker. "It’s very nice to have a family here. It’s the first time there have been young children living here for about 80 or 90 years," he said about his family's ancestral home.

David isn't a fan of talking about himself, but was willing to say a bit more about married life. "It’s very nice to have someone to make decisions with, especially someone who has such wonderful taste as Rose," he told Vanity Fair. "We spark off each other. She has a younger eye and she loves the house. I’m so lucky."