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Prince & Princess of Wales

The Duchess of Cambridge enjoys an afternoon of tennis with her Dad

The Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed an afternoon of tennis with her father, Michael Middleton, attending the final day of the Wimbledon championships.

Kate, who presented the trophies at yesterday’s Ladies Singles championship, arrived at Wimbledon with her father to first watch the Men’s Wheelchair final between Gordon Reid and Joachim Gérard before heading over to the royal box for the Men’s Singles final between reigning champ Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini.

In a 2017 interview about Wimbledon, Kate spoke of how her family would attend the tournament during her childhood, recalling that they would attend matches on People’s Sunday or People’s Monday, recalling that “the atmosphere there is incredible, whether you’re sitting on Henman Hill or being fortunate enough to be in, just wonder around the ground court it’s really, it’s hugely special and I was very fortunate that I did get through, it was quite late in the day, I’m not going to lie, but luckily play went on quite late in the evening so I managed to get to see some.”

The Middleton Family maintains their tennis appreciation to this day: the entire family can be spotted attending matches throughout the two weeks of play; and Roger Federer has become a family friend, having been invited to Pippa Middleton Matthews’s wedding in 2016.

The Swiss tennis legend also provided a private lesson to Prince George. He spoke of the young royal’s talent in an interview, saying “At that stage it’s all about touching the ball, it’s the same with my boys,” and that he has a good swing.”

Kate is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the Lawn Tennis Association, taking over from The Queen in both roles. The Duke of Kent has been president of the AELTC since 1969, though he announced before the championship weekend that this would be his last tournament in the role.

The BBC announced on Sunday afternoon that, from next year’s tournament, Kate will take over presenting the trophies to all winners, though there was no statement on whether this means that she will shift from patron to president.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.