EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN...even william's

A close confidante of William and Kate has found herself back in the headlines once again

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It's not just internet trolls and armchair detectives fuelling the spectacle that has become Princess Kate's recovery from abdominal surgery.

Last week, US talk show host Stephen Colbert didn't hold back during a monologue where he openly discussed rumours about Kate. He suggested her absence was related to salacious rumours that her husband, Prince William, 41, allegedly had an affair with a former confidante to the Prince and Princess of Wales.

"The kingdom has been all aflutter about the seeming disappearance of [Princess] Kate," he started. "Well now, internet sleuths are guessing that Kate's absence may be related to her husband, and the future King of England, William, having an affair," he explained.

"I think we all know who the alleged other woman is, say it with me, The Marchioness of Cholmondeley," he continued, referring to Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, 40, who has ancestral ties to the British royal family.