The Duchess of Cambridge paid her first official visit to this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament on Friday, watching two matches and visiting the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Kate first watched a men’s doubles match with Wimbledon Chief Executive Sally Bolton and former tennis player Tim Henman at one of the outer courts. There, she watched as Brits Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares defeated North Americans Nicholas Monroe and Vasek Pospisil.
After watching the doubles match, Kate headed to the kitchens to join the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s Executive Chef, Adam Fargin, in preparing the world-famous strawberry desserts and egg sandwiches for lunch that day.
Kate quipped, while hulling strawberries: “It’s interesting, I’ve always done this with a knife, but then you probably lose more of the strawberry.”
And although last year didn’t take place, the AELTC have continued to do incredible work within their local community. Through Wingfield Kitchen, they were able to provide 200 hot meals per day, for a whole year, to those in need. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/A38cmzs9Dv
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) July 2, 2021
While preparing the meals with Fargin, Kate learned more about how the AELTC used its kitchens during the pandemic to provide over 200 hot meals each day for the local public.
After the food preparations, Kate headed over to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, which is free this year for patrons who purchased championship tickets.
The Museum was opened by the Duke of Kent in 1977 and features interactive exhibitions dedicated to the history of Wimbledon and tennis.
This year, a special exhibition has been curated to mark the centenary of the Centre Court and is dedicated to exploring “the role that Centre Court has played as a witness to a period of considerable social and cultural progress, and the platform that the court, and The Championships, has provided for that change,” per its official website.
Kate also viewed portraits on display, chatting with Adam Chadwick, the AELTC’s head of heritage, who guided her around. She spotted a portrait of Andy Murray—who she later tweeted about as her prediction to win on Friday—and said “I love it. It has a lot of movement. It is very pretty.”
At a tennis reaction station, Kate tried her hand at scoring points, earning 24 points in 30 seconds—the world record is 56 points in 30 seconds.
Later, Kate joined the Duke of Kent, who is President of the AELTC, in the Royal Box.
Kensington Palace tweeted about Kate’s visit to the championships: “With the tournament having to be cancelled last year, it’s amazing to see fans and players back inside these iconic grounds.”
