Don’t get me wrong, the Rose Hanbury story was huge royal gossip circa 2019-2020. We were living then and dissecting all of the clues, tweets, timelines and theories. We’re now five years’ past the initial “rural rival” story, which broke in March 2019, wherein Dan Wootton revealed that Kate Middleton was trying to “phase out” her “rural rival,” the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, for some unknown but heavily insinuated reason. The spring of 2019 was full of well-connected posh people and journalists suggesting that there was a torrid affair between Prince William and Rose. At the same time, Kensington Palace ramped up their attacks on the Sussexes as an explicit quid pro quo to get the British tabloids to bury the Rose story. The Rose-William alleged affair story is inextricably linked to what the Windsors did to the Sussexes – the Sussexes were fed to the wolves to protect William and his wandering sceptre.

All of which to say, it feels like casual royal gossips are now playing catch-up on this years-old tea. Which is fascinating to watch, as a somewhat niche gossip story becomes a global headline, all because of William’s missing wife. Stephen Colbert’s monologue on Tuesday gave the international media permission to talk about Rose and run explainers on the story, like this one at Entertainment Tonight. They’re also revisiting Omid Scobie’s Endgame and his interviews where he discussed why he included some interesting behind-the-scenes details on what was going down in 2019. Everything Scobie did and said last year looks so prescient, including calling his book “Endgame.”

Meanwhile, there’s precious little new gossip about Rose and William. I’ve believed for some time now that whatever was going on between them has been over for a while, although I also believe that Will and Kate maintain some kind of relationship with their posh Norfolk neighbors. The scandal in 2019 was, I have always believed, Rose putting KATE in her place and letting Kate know that’s not the way any of this is handled, darling. Speaking of, there is this one new story:

The recently resurfaced rumors of an affair between Prince William and Rose Hanbury have taken a toll on Princess Kate Middleton amid her recovery from abdominal surgery.

“Kate taking her wedding ring off [in a recent family photo] just intensified all the drama surrounding their marriage and the rumors of William’s affair with Rose,” a source exclusively tells In Touch. “You can’t blame her for being at her wits end with the rumors about Rose and William completely haunting her. It’s hurtful, especially because she’s still recovering from major surgery.”

Rumors that William, 41, cheated on his wife, 42, first surfaced in 2019 after it was reported that Kate and Rose, 39, had a falling out. None of the parties involved have ever publicly commented on the unverified rumors. However, the allegations resurfaced earlier this month, as fans have come up with conspiracy theories about why details of Kate condition following her January 16 operation have been kept under wraps.

Rose has not weighed in amid the resurfaced affair rumors. The former model is married to David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and they have three children together.

[From In Touch Weekly via Yahoo]

Eh. I’m sure William isn’t happy about the revived interest in his alleged mistress from 2018-ish, but I’m also sure that he’s grateful we aren’t talking about his other alleged side chicks. Like, there are other people and other rumors and other avenues for royal gossips to investigate. A little bit surprised that no one has even bothered going down the Jecca Craig rabbit hole.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.