It was one of the most talked about moments at this year’s Wimbledon and now the royal at the centre of a tennis storm is turning the event into a chance to raise money for charity. The Duchess of Cornwall is auctioning the sweatband thrown into the Royal Box by Andy Murray for a good cause.
The Duchess of Cornwall is auctioning the wristband thrown to her by Andy Murray for charity
The moment that caused so much chatter came on day four of the Championships when the Duchess spent several hours at SW19 ending her stay by taking in the Centre Court match which saw Britain’s number one men’s star cruise into the third round. At the end of his straight sets victory over Robin Haase, Andy Murray threw one of his sweatbands into the Royal Box – and left Camilla looking rather bemused.
The item had been caught by the chairman of the All England Club, Philip Brook, and passed to the royal guest who smiled before handing it straight back. And now Camilla wants to hand the sweatband on again – well aware that thousands of people would love to own such a piece of sporting memorabilia, she has decided to auction it for charity. And she’s got Andy Murray to autograph it as well – which means the sweaty sweatband is unlikely ever to be washed again.
The decision to sell it to raise funds for the Royal Veterinary College Animal Care Trust was announced on the official Clarence House Twitter and Instagram pages. The Duchess of Cornwall is patron of the charity which supports not for profit hospitals run by the Royal Veterinary College and also helps with its research and education programmes. The announcement of the auction confirmed that Andy Murray, well known as a dog lover, had helped select the cause which would benefit from the sale of the wristband.
People wanting to bid are told to click on a link on the profile section of the Clarence House Instagram feed which takes them to a special ebay page. So far, there have been 44 bids and if you want to join in then you’ll have to be quick – the auction ends on Sunday July 12th, the final day of this year’s Wimbledon championships.
The Duchess of Cornwall, again via Twitter, confirmed after her visit to Wimbledon that she had met Andy Murray and congratulated him on his successes at this year’s tournament. And although Murray may be out and will have to watch from the sidelines as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic battle it out for the 2015 title, his Wimbledon story is far from over. It’s still waiting for the closing of this royal chapter which started with a sweaty wristband and has ended up raising money for a good cause.
Photo credit: UK in Spain via Flickr
