Houghton Hall Houghton Hall, Rose Hanbury's Norfolk home.
A Royal feud has erupted resulting in Kate Middleton telling Prince William that Rose Hanbury needed to be “phased out” of their aristocratic social set in Norfolk.
The group of friends is “known colloquially as the Turnip Toffs due to their vast holdings of arable farmland, reports The Daily Beast.
But the rumors of a royal rift might be unfounded.
“As they do, the British tabloids have recently been fixated on rumors of an alleged royal-related feud — this time, between Kate Middleton and her ‘rural rival’ (their words!) Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley,” reports The Cut.
“The Duchess of Cambridge is said to have seriously considered legal action over a story The Sun ran about her having a falling out with her “rural rival” and Norfolk neighbor, Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley,” reports ELLE.
1. Who is Rose Hanbury?
Hanbury is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley). A marchioness is the wife of a marquess, a British nobleman ranking above an earl and below a duke. Hanbury, 33, is married David Rocksavage, 58, the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley.
“They first met on holiday in Italy in 2003, and announced their engagement six years later, a day before getting married,” reports The Tatler. Hanbury was expecting.
She became a model at age 23, signing with the Storm Agency who discovered Kate Moss. In 2005, a photo of Hanbury with her older sister and then Prime Minister Tony Blair made headlines.
Her husband is a filmmaker, and it is her hobby.
2. How are Hanbury and Middleton Similar?
A late lunch by a cosy fire @HoughtonHall2 #WinterIsHere #Norfolk #ThursdayThoughts
Both women have three children. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, 37, has Prince Louis of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge. Hanbury is the mother of twin boys, Alexander, Earl of Rocksavage and Oliver, Lord Cholmondeley, and a daughter, Lady Iris.
Each woman owns a home in Norfolk, although Hanbury’s 18th century Palladian home, inherited by her husband after first being built for his ancestor, Britain’s first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, has 106 rooms to Middleton’s 10-bedroom Anmer Hall. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received Anmer Hall as a gift from William’s grandmother Elizabeth II, Queen of England. The homes are less than four miles from each other in the English countryside. While Middleton also has Kensington Palace in London and will likely one day be Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, Hanbury calls home to Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire as well.
Houghton Hall is open to the public May-September of each year.
“Houghton Hall’s growing contemporary art and sculpture collection makes it one of the area’s biggest draws. For a proper mix of art and architecture, works by 21st-century artists such as James Turrell, Anya Gallaccio, and Stephen Cox are scattered throughout the 4,000-acre property and gardens,” reports Vogue.
Middleton attended to Marlborough School while Hanbury boarded at Stowe School. Both boarding schools are an elite educational option.
David Rocksavage has an estimated net worth of £112 million to Prince William’s £30 million.
3. What is Hanbury’s tie to the Royal Family?
Kate Middleton told William to freeze model friend out of their inner circle t.co/EiQKkAikAt
Rose Hanbury was seen sitting next to Prince Harry at his first state banquet in 2017, but her Royal ties go back much further.
Her grandmother, for whom she is named, was a friend to Queen Elizabeth and a bridesmaid in Queen Elizabeth’s wedding to Prince Philip. Lady Rose Lambert grew up together and both learned to dance at Madame Vacani’s studio in London, reports The Daily Mail.
Hanbury has been friends with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for over a decade.
“The two couples are thought to have regularly double-dated, and Kate and Rose are both also patrons of the East Anglia Children’s Hospice,” reports The Tatler.
4 . What is the Feud About?
Details are scant. A source told The Sun, “They should be really close but things are tense between them. No one understands quite how things have come to this.”
The Daily Mail‘s Richard Kay reports that the rumors of conflict between Kate and Hanbury are false, and “both sides have considered legal action but, because none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it,” he wrote.
The two women seemed fated by their husbands’ similar backgrounds and their often intersecting walks in life, having children around the same age (it has been said Hanbury’s sons are playmates to Prince George), but the “Queen Bee” status of the Turnip Toffs, a nickname given to the aristocratic group of friends by British media, seems to have come between them.
5. A History of Royal Feuds
Kate Middleton Is Super Pissed About Reports That She’s Feuding with Her “Rural Rival” Rose Hanbury t.co/zdwn1ruaaS
The Royals have no shortage of feuds in their history. Rumors have circulated as to a feud between sisters-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but media speculation fuels them as often as they are founded.
If there is no truth to the rumors, the story no less presents the opportunity to shed the spotlight on Rose Hanbury who, while not a member of the royal family, is as aristocratic a socialite of intrigue as any. Her husband’s ancestor was Britain’s first Prime Minister, her grandmother was in the Queen’s wedding, and her children are friends with the future King of England.
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