The Duchess of Cambridge has arrived at Wimbledon for the first day of the world famous tennis championship.
The Duchess is attending in the capacity of Patron of Wimbledon, a position she took over from The Queen last year.
Wimbledon was one of 25 organisations Her Majesty stood down from in December 2016 due to her advancing age and the gradual decline in her workload.
It was no surprise that Wimbledon was one of the organisations Her Majesty has stepped down from. Although she had served as patron for 64 years, she has never had a keen passion for tennis and so has visited the Wimbledon tournament just twice in the past 35 years.
In addition to her role as patron, the Duchess will be taking over the responsibility for presenting awards to Wimbledon champions from the Duke of Kent—a role he has held for the past 48 years. A spokesperson for the club was quoted, saying ‘They will let us know when the change happens. We will just be told. Until we hear otherwise I can only assume the Duke will hand out prizes as usual’ suggesting that this is all the information the Club has been given about the change at this time.
A keen tennis player, Kate regularly attends the Wimbledon Championships and was presented with an honorary membership to the All England Tennis Club in January 2013. And a statement issued at the time on her behalf said ‘The Duchess was pleased to accept the kind offer, particularly given her interest in tennis’.
Kate plays regularly and has been quoted as saying it’s one of only two sports she can beat Prince William at. She has also taken an interest in sharing the sport with the next generation and showed off her skills with a racket when she participated in a ‘Tennis on the Road’ workshop hosted by Judy Murray—mother of tennis star players Andy and Jamie Murray—at Craigmount High School in Edinburgh during a day of engagements in February 2016.
Founded on 23 July 1868 The Club went through several changes and names before becoming The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 1899. The Championships at Wimbledon—commonly referred to simply as ‘Wimbledon’—is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and was first held in 1877. Taking place every year in a two-week period at the end of June and beginning of July the tournament is the only Major still played on grass and considered the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
Like watching grass grow
The Duke of Kent has been presenting the trophies at Wimbledon since 1969.That would be 48 instead of 40 years you wrote in your article.Do you check what you write?Do you do research before you write your article’s?
Geez, so terribly nasty. Hope you never make a mistake.
No, they don’t check (unfortunately)
Aye, another freebie for the parasites.