Prince William and Kate Middleton did the polite thing Thursday by wishing their estranged sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, a happy 41st birthday, but people taking sides in the royal rift continued to fight online, and not just about which duchess made the other cry at Meghan’s bridesmaids’ dress fitting in 2018.
The “#PrinceOfPegging” hashtag continued to make the rounds on Twitter this week, as apparent supporters of William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, accused the fiercely loyal fans of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, of spreading a particularly salacious rumor about William.
Whoever started the rumor, the gossip centers on a sex act known as “pegging.” People apparently sympathetic to the Sussex point of view seem to think it proves that the dutiful heir to the throne and father of three isn’t the straight-arrow family man that he’s portrayed himself to be.
Princess Charlotte Flew to Commonwealth Games by Helicopter — with Prince William as the Pilot! https://t.co/SNf4YZlzVF
— People (@people) August 4, 2022
The rumor first emerged as a royal blind item on the celebrity/PR Instagram DeuxMoi last week. “Like all the other blinds on DeuxMoi, it is unverified and quite possibly rubbish,” New York Magazine’s The Cut reported.
The blind item discussed an unnamed British royal’s extramarital affair. This alleged affair “is an open secret in London and amongst the English artisto set, and is the talk of every party and newsdesk,” the writer of the item said.
“At a recent media party, I was told the real reason for the affair was the royal’s love of pegging, which his wife is far too old-fashioned to engage in,” the writer of the blind item said. “The wife doesn’t mind her and in fact prefers her husband getting his sexual needs met elsewhere, as long as things don’t become emotional, which was the case with the last woman.”
Willy is getting the spotlight he wants. 🥳#PrinceOfPegging #princewilliamaffair pic.twitter.com/qZpH0KNYOk
— H&M (@loveforsussexes) July 28, 2022
As The Cut said, there are several royal husbands who could potentially fit this bill. “Pegging” also sounds vaguely like something that could appeal to men in certain circles of British high-society.
Unfortunately for William, he immediately became the leading contender for the “PrinceOfPegging” title. As The Cut noted, Prince Philip is dead, and Prince Andrew no longer has a wife, even if he continues to live with his ex, Sarah Ferguson. Given that Harry left the U.K. to live in California with Meghan more than two years ago, his sex life is not likely to be the talk of London, as The Cut noted.
The Cut acknowledged that it it could be Edward or Charles. Then again, it’s easy to imagine that Charles’s risque sex talk with Camilla, secretly recorded and made public when he was cheating on Princess Diana, would show that he’d prefer to have his wife indulge his special requests, not some mistress, as The Cut said.
The main reason that William has became the leading contender is because of what was once dubbed “the Turnip drama.” This drama centered on an unsubstantiated but persistent rumor that William once became too friendly — or even had an affair — with an aristocratic country neighbor while Kate was pregnant with their third child, Louis. The Daily Beast once said that the “sensational rumor” had electrified British high society.
The turnip reference comes from the “country-posh” set that William and Kate had become part of near their estate in rural Norfolk. This circle of friends is charmingly known as the “turnip toffs.”
In that circle, The Sun reported back in 2019, the Duchess of Cambridge had become best friends with Rose Cholmondeley, a former model who also was in her mid-30s, and who also has young children. She is married to David Rocksavage, a man 23 years her senior. Rocksavage, also is known as the Marquess of Cholmondeley, comes from an old aristocratic family.
The affair rumors emerged after Kate told William that Rose needed to be “phased out” as one of the couple’s close friends, The Sun reported at the time. A source told The Sun: “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.”
Speculation about the affair gathered steam in the spring of 2019, driven by concerns at the time about the “double standard” in the way the U.K. media covered William and Kate, versus the unflattering way it covered Meghan, when she was still a senior working member of the royal family.
Fast forward to the summer of 2022, when relations between the Cambridges and the Sussexes reportedly remain very tense.
Wishing a happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex! pic.twitter.com/HrYdCbe6N1
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) August 4, 2022
In their March 2021 interview with Oprah WInfrey, Harry and Meghan famously accused the royal family of harboring a racist who wondered what their children, with a biracial mother, would look like. Meghan also singled out Kate to Oprah by alleging that Kate made her cry at the infamous bridesmaids’ dress fitting that took place in the tense days leading up to her May 2018 royal wedding. William was reportedly furious that Meghan made such accusations against his wife.
Now, Harry is set to publish his memoir by the end of the year, which could reveal more damaging royal secrets, and he and Meghan are reportedly making a Netflix docu-series about their life in California. But believing that Harry and Meghan are trying to cash in on their royal connections, William, Kate and other senior royals reportedly went to great lengths to avoid being seen with them when they came to the U.K. to help celebrate the queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The pegging rumors also exploded in the wake of controversial British author Tom Bower publishing “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors,” his scathing biography of Meghan. It portrays her as a self-aggrandizing American TV actress who used her marriage to Harry to catapult herself to global superstardom.
So, for Sussex fans, believing that Bower’s “hatchet” job unfairly attacked a brilliant, independent, compassionate woman, the “PrinceOfPegging” hashtag couldn’t come at a better time:
I don’t care if Prince William indulges in extra marital affairs. I don’t care if he likes a bit of pegging. I do care though that he and his wife used Meghan as a distraction from their lives being talked about. #PrinceWilliamAffair #PrinceOfPegging
— Anna (@Anna__with_an_A) July 28, 2022
Unfortunately for William, the word “pegging” and all it implies have given rise to jokes and memes that might be hard for him and the royal family to live down.
Buckingham Palace interns having to explain #PrinceOfPegging to the Queen… pic.twitter.com/M0UvPz2tum
— Boom The Brazen Hussy (@TheDuchessBoom) July 28, 2022
My mom when I just told her about the latest Prince William affair story and the allegations of pegging..
Mom: “What is pegging?”
(I tell her)
Mom: “Well THAT will make for an interesting episode on The Crown!”
Excuse me as I die now. #princewilliamaffair #PrinceOfPegging
— Liz ❤️💛🏈💛❤️ (@LizzyS923) July 28, 2022
