If you know two things about Rose Hanbury, it’s probably that “Cholmondeley” is actually pronounced “Chumley” and that British tabloids have occasionally accused her and Prince William of having an affair. But the Marchioness of Cholmondeley is much more than her rumored extramarital relationships (which, for the record, she denies). Ever since her name got dragged into the Kate Middleton hubbub, she has developed a small fan base among those who recognize that this marchioness is glamorous as hell.
In case you haven’t gone down the full Hanbury rabbit hole yourself, let me catch you up. Obviously, the woman has royal connects — her grandmother was the daughter of the 10th Earl of Cavan and also one of Queen Elizabeth’s bridesmaids. Hanbury has described her upbringing as a little kooky but in a British socialite way. In a 2022 book that featured their childhood home, she said, “Mum turned the basement into a nightclub for us, painting the whole place herself and hanging Moroccan lanterns and suzanis from the walls. It felt a bit like an opium den.” Oh?
Before she married the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley in 2009, Hanbury enjoyed a few years working as a model in London. She signed with Storm, the agency that discovered Kate Moss (more on her below), when she was 23 and appears to have frequented mid-aughts boutique openings and book launches alongside her fellow British aristocrats and socialites. Here she is, giving the vibe of a Sex and the City guest star about to unload a chaotic monologue about her situationship with an up-and-coming British gallerist:
In reality, she was pictured at that same 2004 party gossiping with Laura Parker Bowles, Queen Camilla’s daughter from her first marriage. At another event, she modeled Escada skiwear with the illegitimate daughter of a disgraced British Cabinet member:
Hanbury also seems to have hung out with Hugh Grant during this stretch, and at some point she and her sister Marina were photographed partying with Tony Blair in matching bikinis. Incredible.
Anyway, after a few years of partying with London’s hot young creatives, Hanbury reportedly did a brief stint as a researcher for Conservative MP Michael Grove. We’ll gracefully skip over that because she resigned sometime around June 2009, when she married David Cholmondeley. David, who was 49 when they married (Hanbury was 25), has more of a firm footing in the British hierarchy: He’s descended from the U.K.’s first prime minister, and his family has passed down earl and marquess titles since the early-19th century. His marriage to Hanbury appears to have been a wee bit rushed — their engagement was reportedly announced two days before the wedding, and four months later they welcomed twin boys. Hanbury and David also welcomed a daughter in 2016. (Naturally, there’s speculation among die-hard conspiracists that at least one of these offspring is actually William’s.)
Since then, Hanbury seems to have settled nicely into the marchioness lifestyle. Her friendship with Kate Middleton, whom she reportedly met after she got married, has been well chronicled. British tabloids dubbed their social circle the “Turnip Toffs,” which is a far cry from beach raves with the prime minister, but maybe she was ready to embrace the root-vegetable lifestyle. She and David live at Houghton Hall, which is apparently down the road from Kate and William’s Norfolk country house. In 2022, she designed some tableware inspired by the estate’s Palladian architecture, and last year, the Financial Times photographed the couple at home, lounging between sculptures by contemporary artist Sean Scully. (Their home is gorgeous, though now that everyone is interested in it, some people have pointed out it may or may not contain looted artifacts from the Qing Dynasty.) In the piece, Kate Moss, who apparently has been friends with David since the ’90s and is now the godmother of their daughter, Iris, told the reporter, “I love him and Rose.” Same, I think?
