Who doesn’t love royal drama, let alone rumours of royal affairs? The royal-watching world has been awash with rumours in recent years from many blue-blooded families. Some scandals have been dubbed as not true and created by vengeful individuals. Others have been revealed to be true and damaging.
So, in this post, we’ll examine a few of these royal affairs and see if there was any truth behind them. Please bear in mind many of these have been proven to be untrue.
Prince William & Rose Hanbury
One of the inspirations for this article was the rumoured affair between Prince William, the then-Duke of Cambridge and Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley.
This one is probably the easiest to debunk of all the royal affairs in this post. Before we explore that, let’s explore how this rumour came to be.
So, Giles Coren, who is well-known in British society circles and is a media personality, was at a Soho House event with Prince Harry and Meghan, and it came up in conversation. He was allegedly drunk when he tweeted out that “everyone knew” about the affair between William and Rose.
It is also alleged that the affair happened while Catherine, then the Duchess of Cambridge, was pregnant with Prince Louis. Rumour has it that Catherine confronted William about it, and he laughed it off. Some people even think this “affair” was the reason for a spat between the Duchess and the Marchioness.
Since then, the Sussex Squad has been particularly nasty. They have called Prince William “the prince of pegging” and claimed that Rose’s three children are William’s. Harry also implies several times that the Palace covered up for his brother. While he doesn’t explicitly state the so-called affair, this is what most people believe.
The Evidence AGAINST This Royal Affair
As we’ve said, NO evidence suggests an affair ever happened between William and Rose. Coren had to write a column to apologise for putting the rumour out there in the first place. We’ve also got a few pieces of evidence that goes against the speculation:
- Catherine’s sister, Pippa, named her second daughter Rose – they are incredibly close and Pippa wouldn’t jeopardise her bond with her sister for anything.
- One of Rose’s sons was a page at King Charles III’s coronation.
- Rose and David were in attendance at The Queen’s funeral.
- There are NO photos of William and Rose together where they’re not with their spouses.
- Rose’s husband, David, works with The King.
- Prince George is friends with Rose and David’s sons.
- According to The Sun, Catherine and Rose have made up from their alleged spat. Also, their fight could have been over anything.
King Juan Carlos & Corinna Larsen
King Juan Carlos is a well-known cheater. It is reported that he has bedded 2000 women. Yikes. Anyway, this was while he was the King of Spain. However, what made him come unstuck was when he got involved with Corinna Larsen. She initially wanted nothing to do with him, but fell for his charms.
He had been doing many dodgy things behind the scenes, and he and his wife, Queen Sofia, were married on paper but not behind palace walls. They had been living apart for years and had their own separate offices. There is a whole podcast on this.
Juan Carlos ended up with a ton of money that no one could explain, and in her quest to expose him, Corinna ended up getting into trouble where the king, using his power behind the scenes, framed her all because she left him.
Once exposed, Juan Carlos was forced to abdicate the Spanish throne. His son, Felipe, became the new king. He was forced into self-imposed exile.
King Albert II & Sybille de Selys Longchamps
King Albert II of Belgium reigned from 1993 to 2013. However, he had been having a long-time affair with Sybille de Selys Longchamps, with whom he had a daughter named Delphine. He acknowledged her as his child for a long time, but he cut her off as she got older.
For years, Delphine had to fight for her father to acknowledge her.
Delphine’s existence was first referenced in 1997 in a satirical magazine. However, some years later, the Belgian mainstream media would catch on. According to Sybille, she and the king (then a prince) had an 18-year relationship during which their daughter was conceived.
In 1999, a schoolboy journalist was writing a biography on Queen Paola when he included a statement claiming that Delphine was Albert’s child. At the time, she and her mother refused to comment and the Belgian palace denied the rumour, claiming it was gossip and nothing more.
Albert dug in his heels when Delphine filed a paternity suit against him. It got so complex that two of her half-siblings had to be called into court. To make it even more complicated, the court ruled that he would be hit with more court costs every day the king did not do a DNA test. Finally, he relented and did the test, confirming that he was Delphine’s father.
Delphine and her children were granted HRHs and Princely titles. However, Delphine is not in the line of succession because she is an illegitimate child of Albert. Albert abdicated in 2013, citing “health reasons.” His son, Phillipe, took over as King.
Queen Letizia & Jaime del Burgo
Not long after Crown Prince Frederik’s alleged affair (more on that later), Queen Letizia was hit with a royal affair rumour of her own. Her former brother-in-law, Jaime del Burgo, who married to her sister, claims they’d had an affair during the early years of her marriage to Felipe.
His proof? A pregnancy selfie Letizia took in a bathroom wearing a scarf. He claims the scarf is his. Can he verify this?
Nothing recent has come out about this story, so we doubt it’s true. It’s likely that Jaime was infatuated with Letizia and had to settle for her sister and is getting revenge for her rejecting him.
King Frederik X & Genoveva Casanova
So, the last of our royal affairs is King Frederik X (then Crown Prince) and Genoveva Casanova. During a trip to Madrid, Frederik went on several engagements with Genoveva after their mutual friend was forced to drop out.
Frederik was then seen coming out of Genoveva’s apartment after several hours with her by the paparazzi. The story broke via a Spanish tabloid during the Spanish visit to Denmark.
Mary and Queen Letizia did not look happy. The tension between Frederik and Mary was more tense than we’ve ever seen.
