No wonder Rose Hanbury is upset those affair rumors resurfaced — because now HER dirty laundry is being aired!
As Perezcious readers know, amid conspiracy theories and concerns about Princess Catherine‘s health and whereabouts, anglophiles recalled the wild infidelity rumors about Prince William and Rose, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley). The theory was the marriage issues and a possible divorce could be the reason for the Princess of Wales’ disappearance. While Rose has already denied the allegations via her lawyers, it hasn’t prevented her from being a focal point in the royal drama. And getting the spotlight firmly placed on her…
As a result fans noticed a possible MAJOR problem in some old photoshoot pics of Rose and her husband David Rocksavage, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. The resurfaced images (HERE) were from stories in the Financial Times and Vanity Fair back in 2013 — several years before her alleged tryst with the prince began allegedly in 2017/2018. Here’s one posted by Rose herself:
In the portraits, the couple sit in their 18th-century estate in the Norfolk countryside, Houghton Hall. But social media users noticed some pieces of Oriental decor they believe may have been pillaged from China during the late Qing Dynasty (toward the end of the 19th century).
Related: Prince William & Princess Catherine Are ‘Shocked’ By The Conspiracy Theories
Chinese social channels have been filled with the allegations since last week, with a user on the country’s Instagram-equivalent app Xiaohongshu, declaring:
“The luxurious life of Prince William’s ‘mistress’ Rose actually came from China.”
The same allegations also spread across other platforms like Weibo (kind of a Chinese Twitter) and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), as well as the real TikTok, YouTube, and X. According to the posts, Rose’s husband seemingly inherited the furniture from the Sassoons (of which he is a descendant via his paternal grandmother, Sybil Sassoon). But the Xiaohongshu post alleged:
“The Sassoons started to accumulate their wealth by looting late Qing China.”
According to Time on Thursday, the Sassoons were a Jewish Baghdadi family that owned and oversaw a 19th-century trading empire, including textiles, tea, and opium across India, China, and beyond. As other generations of the family eventually made their way to England, they became official British aristocrats when the family patriarch’s son Abdallah was knighted as Sir Albert in 1872. Ever since they’ve been pals with the royals — well, you know, until Kate Middleton‘s reported “fallout” with Rose!
But back to the latest scandal. While they clearly had ties to China and were avid collectors of art, it’s unknown whether they actually stole the artifacts in question or if they were purchased. One reason why critics might be leaning toward the plundering theory is because the height of the Sassoon’s business coincided with China’s “century of humiliation” from 1839 to 1945. During that time millions of artifacts were looted from the country, like at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, which British and French soldiers ransacked during the second Opium War, per the outlet. So, it’s not out of the question — everything in Houghton Hall probably has a storied (if not controversial) history!
Interestingly, some things from the estate have already been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2002. The British Museum has also received donations from the Sassoons before — but that institution is similarly in hot water. The museum’s long been accused of housing stolen Chinese artifacts, and after 2,000 items were reported missing or stolen from the museum last year, the Chinese state media called for the org to return their stuff, arguing they weren’t taking good care of it. So, yeah, this is complicated and messy AF! So far, Rose and David haven’t commented on the allegations.
Ellie Hall, a former royals reporter for BuzzFeed News who has been covering #KateGate online, summed it up pretty well, though, teasing:
“This is legitimately one of my favorite unanticipated side-plots of the whole insane royal saga.”
LOLz!
This scandal just gets crazier and crazier by the day! It’ll be innneresting to see how Rose handles this! Thoughts?
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