Most of what’s in Omid Scobie‘s new royals tell-all Endgame is about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. This story doesn’t seem to be… until it is.
As you may recall, back in 2019 a rumor Prince William had cheated on his wife escaped from within palace walls and upper crust garden parties and hit the internet. The story went that Will hooked up with an old pal of Princess Catherine‘s — socialite Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley). The hashtags #PrinceWilliamAffair and #PrinceOfPegging were all over social media, with folks particularly upset at the idea he stepped out on Kate while she was pregnant with Prince Louis. Followers knew how hard the pregnancies were on her, as she suffers from hyperemesis gravidarum — and was having awful morning sickness all the time.
That other hashtag, well, you can figure that one out yourself. Or just click HERE. Maybe go into incognito mode first.
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The story actually went away pretty quickly — for something so salacious that is. And Endgame explains why! Scobie writes that royal press secretary Christian Jones was hardcore “stressing” over the whispers. The author quoted a source described as a former courtier who told him:
“Christian was so desperate to stop [the rumor] and made it his mission to do so.”
The palace aide was quite effective, too. How? Scobie was told he offered The Sun other juicy royal scoops “in exchange for standing down on the rumors.” And it worked! The author notes how by June 2019, the UK tabloid had “suddenly pulled reporters off the hunt” for more info on Will and Rose’s alleged affair. As a courtier told him, the palace didn’t like the story so “Christian helped make it end.”
Not only that, those scoops he offered? They turned The Sun into a weapon on their side! Scobie points out that the paper shifted its focus to Harry and Meghan, publishing “a series of revealing stories” about the controversial couple instead.
Scobie has made it clear he’s seen no evidence that the cheating story was ever true — and seems to doubt it. But what this story seems to be suggesting, maybe not even intentionally, is that Christian’s efforts to put out this one fire helped to turned the tide of press negativity towards the Sussexes! Whoa! How very high school, right? Like we said, it wasn’t about them until it was.
Do YOU believe this is why the Prince William affair story died down so fast??
[Image via Lia Toby/WENN.]
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