KATE Middleton’s “rural rival” Rose Hanbury attended the State Banquet last night – despite rumours of a rift between the pair.
The Duchess of Cambridge, 37, was said to have “fallen out” with her long-term best friend from Norfolk earlier this year and is said to have been “phasing her out” of her social circle.
But Rose, 35, who has the title of Marchioness of Cholmondeley, was pictured back in the fold at Buckingham Palace last night as President Trump dined with the Queen.
Former model Rose was pictured walking into the event wearing a stunning white gown with a plunging neckline and her hair tied back in a stylish up-do.
Meanwhile, Kate Middleton sat metres away at the glitzy event in a white Alexander McQueen dress and the Lover’s Knot tiara.
The Sun revealed in March how friends had told how Kate wanted Rose “phased out” as one of her and Prince William’s closest confidantes — despite her husband’s attempts to repair a rift between them.
A source said: “They should be really close but things are tense between them. No one understands quite how things have come to this.
“Over the years, Rose and Kate’s lives have been entwined in many ways.”
Prince William was reported to have even stepped in to try to broker peace because he and Kate have enjoyed double dates with Rose and David— who at 58 is 23 years his wife’s senior — as the royal heir gets on with him.
However, royal insiders say Kate has refused, and one source revealed: “It is well known that Kate and Rose have had a terrible falling out. They used to be close but that is not the case any more.”
Rose often attends State Banquets with her Eton-educated husband David Rocksavage, 58, who is the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley and Lord Great Chamberlain, due to his title and position.
David’s role requires him to play a major part in grand royal events, such as dressing the monarch on coronation day, investing the monarch with the insignia of rule and serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet.
Long-time friends Rose and Kate had become central to a high-society Norfolk set nicknamed the “Turnip toffs” — of which Rose was “Queen Bee”.
Rose and David, who married in 2009, live just three miles away from Kate and Prince William’s home, Anmer Hall.
The four had previously enjoyed dinner parties and attended weddings together.
And Rose’s twin boys Alexander, Earl of Rocksavage and Oliver, Lord Cholmondeley, and daughter Lady Iris have been playmates of Prince George.
Rose first grabbed the headlines by posing for a picture while wearing a pink bikini with her socialite sister Marina and then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005.
They attended the royal couple’s wedding eight years ago — where Rose was hailed as the best dressed guest.
And in 2016, Kate and Wills were star attendees at a black tie gala event hosted at Houghton Hall, another illustration of their closeness.
Rose is a former model for the agency Storm, which discovered Kate Moss, and also had a brief stint as a political researcher for the Conservative MP Michael Gove.
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Her paternal grandmother Lady Rose Lambert was a bridesmaid at the Queen’s wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.
And Rose stole the show at Prince Harry’s first ever State Banquet in July 2017 when she sat next to the royal wearing an extravagant tiara.
Her husband David inherited an estimated £112million estate 27 years ago, which included Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire.
Kensington Palace has been contacted for comment.
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