The Duchess of Cambridge has spent the day at Wimbledon as competition at the Grand Slam really began to heat up. Kate, who is patron of the All England Tennis and Croquet Club, spent time courtside around the site as well as meeting former champions and those working to support the sport at grassroots level. And as this is Wimledon and this is Kate, there were plenty of tennis faces, too, fear not.
The Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Wimbledon mid morning when play was just getting under way on the outside courts. Which meant that upcoming British star, Harriet Dart, found herself with a rather regal spectator as she took on Christina McHale of the United States in the first round, finally running out a winner in three sets. And Kensington Palace later took to Twitter to congratulate the world number 172 on her victory, adding the hashtag #BacktheBrits.
Kate, who took on the patronage of the All England Club from the Queen in 2017, also checked in on the practice area and warm up courts at Aorangi Park and met some of the finalists and winners from this year’s Lawn Tennis Association awards. The prizes recognise those helping boost the sport at grassroots level and the Duchess of Cambridge got the chance to hear about the work going on to bring tennis to a new generation.
The duchess also met some of the top stars of the game right now, chatting to former Men Singles Champion Andy Murray as well as Britain’s top women player, Johanna Konta. And then it was time for what’s almost a Wimbledon tradition in its own right, royal tennis faces.
In recent years, it’s become a a regular part of Wimbledon. Kate heads to the Royal Box on Centre Court, settles down for a spot of tennis and ends up pulling some rather expressive faces as the action unfolds. This year is no different. With Wimbledon barely two days old, we already have a new collection of regal tennis faces to add to the collection.
The Duchess of Cambridge watched the 2018 Ladies Singles Champion, Angelique Kerber, begin the defence of her title on Centre Court with a straight sets win over her compatriot, Tatjana Maria.
We can quite possibly count on at least one more appearance from the Duchess of Cambridge at Wimbledon as the tournament progresses – it is set to run until Sunday July 14th, unless the weather intervenes. Meanwhile, the Duke of Kent and the Duchess of Gloucester are also set to attend several days of the upcoming competition, too.
