On Sunday, Kate Middleton made her second public appearance following the stir caused by her planned abdominal surgery and her absence from the public for over six months.
The Princess of Wales attended the Wimbledon final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
“It was quite a surprise to see her at the Wimbledon final, and we know that the Princess is a huge fan of tennis,” Royal expert Katie Nicholl said to the media about Kate’s attendance. “Since 2016 she’s been patron of the Lawn Tennis Association. She’s been at every Wimbledon, so I think we all hoped that we would see her there,” she added.
When she arrived at the event, Kate received a standing ovation as she made her way to the Royal Box at Centre Court to watch the match.
Kate attended the match together with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, and her sister, Pippa Middleton.
“When she turned up, the crowd showed their appreciation with the standing ovation, which went on for quite a while actually, and the Princess [was] very, very touched by that,” Nicholl shared. “I think she looked quite overwhelmed by the moment, absolutely delighted to be there.”
“She is a great tennis player. She’s a huge fan of the game, and clearly Princess Charlotte has the tennis bug, too, something that runs in the Middleton family. So I think, for Kate to have not gone, and would have been a great shame for royal fans, for tennis fans and for the Princess herself,” she says. “This was an important event for her.”
Kate’s outfit caught the attention of the public. She opted for a gorgeous purple dress by Safiyaa and a bow-tie pin that represented her role. The pin displayed purple and dark green, the club’s official colors.
According to Nicholl, Kate chose this looks “because the colors of Wimbledon are green and purple, so that that color of dress was a very deliberate choice, and I think she looked incredibly well and very happy to be there.”
Despite Kate’s usual attendance at Wimbledon, she was absent for the majority of the competition due to her current treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
Kate made her first public appearance since she had disclosed her cancer condition with the public at King Charles’ official birthday, the Trooping of Colour.
“She explained that she has good days, and she has bad days, and we know from the palace that when they announce that she’s going to attend an engagement, it’s always with the caveat that if she’s not feeling well on the day she may have to pull out of something at the 11th hour,” royal expert Nicholl said of Kate. “Fortunately that wasn’t the case, and she was able to attend the finals for Wimbledon.”
“I think when we look at the Princess, we see her looking as well as she did, smiling, healthy, radiant, and we can assume that she’s now tolerating this chemotherapy far better than she was in the early stages and that she’s doing well at the moment,” she continued.
Nicholl suggests that while the Princess’ appearance at Wimbledon was significant, it is ‘unlikely’ that she will make any further appearances.
“I was told there were two key engagements that she wanted to make: Trooping the Colour, and Wimbledon, both of which she was able to attend,” the royal expert said. “I was speaking to a source at the palace earlier, who have confirmed that [the children] are on summer recess and they will now just stay away from the public gaze. They will hunker down as a family, more likely than not at Norfolk and Mahal, their countryside bolt hole, and the Princess is not able to travel at the moment while she’s undergoing this course of preventative chemotherapy. So I think that probably rules out an overseas holiday.”
“I think it’s likely that we will see the family go to Scotland at the invitation of the King and Queen later this summer in August. But I think it’s going to be low-key and very much below the radar, so I don’t think we can expect to see the Princess of Wales for some time now.”
Seeing Kate Middleton in public is always a delight.
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