Prince Harry Was Used To Cover Up Prince William's Rumored Affair With Rose Hanbury: 'Endgame' Author
The Palace allegedly used Prince Harry to bury the scandal involving Prince William, according to a royal author.
Royal correspondent and biographer Omid Scobie dropped his newest book, "Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival," on Tuesday. The publication mentioned the Prince of Wales' rumored affair with Rose Hanbury. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Scobie claimed that the Duke of Sussex was used to make the issue disappear.
"The worst case scenarios that they feared would happen, you know, just those rumors themselves were going to have enough impact, negatively, on William's reputation," he told ET.
"We still see them [the rumors] trend on Twitter on a regular basis ... that's something that's incredibly damaging, I think, for William. It probably looks even worse, actually, that there was a kind of willingness to throw Harry under the bus simply to make these things disappear," he added.
Scobie clarified that, in his personal opinion, the rumor wasn't true. He didn't buy the allegation that something was going on between the heir to the throne and the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who was reportedly Kate Middleton's former BFF. He also emphasized that he was cautious for legal reasons when he mentioned the rumor in the book.
"I was very careful in the book to really focus on this, as the allegations against William, Kate's and their fallout with Rose Hanbury," Scobie explained. "For legal reasons, there are so many things that one can't go into, but I thought it was really important, even if a rumor is a rumor. And I really don't see proof that there is more to this than just a tittle-tattle, you know."
The "Finding Freedom" author also weighed in on why the infidelity rumors against Prince William had never disappeared.
"They never addressed it, so those rumors will never go away even though there's no truth to suggest that they are true," Scobie said.
Prince William and Hanbury's rumored affair made headlines in 2019 after a report from In Touch was picked up by several online publications. Giles Coren, a staff writer for The Times of London, also doubled down on the rumor in a since-deleted tweet that read, "Yes. It is an affair."
In response, Prince William's lawyers from Harbottle and Lewis sent a legal warning to at least one British publication after publishing details of the alleged affair.
"In addition to being false and highly damaging, the publication of false speculation in respect of our clients' private life also constitutes a breach of his privacy pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention to Human Rights," one of the letters from Harbottle and Lewis stated, per Daily Beast.
According to Duncan Larcombe, former royal editor of The Sun, the use of legal action was "very much a move of last resort" from the future king.
"Endgame" hit the shelves Tuesday.
