The Princess of Wales’ appearance at the Wimbledon men’s singles final on Sunday alongside her daughter Princess Charlotte and sister Pippa Middleton Matthews may very well be the last time the public sees her for a while—so oblige us another day of talking about it, okay?
Sunday marked only the second time this entire year that we have seen Kate in an official capacity, following last month’s grand return to public life at Trooping the Colour on June 15. Kate is a huge fan of tennis and has also been patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club since 2016, so Wimbledon was a perfect choice for her latest public appearance—and her outfits, as ever, did the talking.
We don’t always hear royal women speaking at engagements, but their clothes often have messages that ring through loud and clear. So was the case with Kate’s bespoke purple dress from London-based luxury brand Safiyaa, as purple is a.) one of the official colors of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (the other is green, which Kate wore three different times to Wimbledon last summer), b.) a color traditionally associated with royalty, and c.) “the color of courage, which could be a nod to what she is going through,” Bethan Holt, fashion director at The Daily Telegraph, told People. Check, check, check.
“Kate has a history of choosing clever, whimsical themes for her Wimbledon looks, and this was a new one,” said Holt, who also literally wrote the book on Kate’s fashion, The Duchess of Cambridge: A Decade of Modern Royal Style, which came out in 2021. “Wearing purple underlines how important that role is to her and why she chose this event to make her second public appearance of the year.”
Holt added “I think she looked glowing and radiant, and it was lovely to see her looking so relaxed,” she said. “I’m sure lots of people will have seen how happy she looked and taken reassurance from that. She really is a kind of beacon of hope for many, but that also comes with a lot of pressure. On the flip side, she has a whole team of people helping her, and most people don’t have the resources she has, but I do think just her presence can really lift people’s mood.”
Kate paired the classic A-line midi dress with a beige bag from LK Bennett and slingbacks by British shoe designer Camilla Elphick. “It was very much Kate’s princess uniform in a shape that really works for her, and it all felt very familiar,” Elphick said. “Although the earrings were a little edgier than usual, it was a really beautiful look.” Of Kate’s decision to wear her Lucia style that day, “It was very nice to see her wearing the shoes and looking so elegant,” she said. “It was a total surprise, and it was very nice, as a much smaller brand, for her to choose us.” She added “Lots of people got in touch yesterday to order the shoes and also to share some particularly lovely messages about how great it is that she supports small British brands, and how special it was that [she] was wearing them for that occasion.”
Kate received a standing ovation and a round of applause as she made her way to her seat inside the Royal Box at Centre Court to watch the match. “When she turned up, the crowd showed their appreciation with the standing ovation, which went on for quite a while actually,” royal biographer Katie Nicholl told Entertainment Tonight. “The princess [was] very, very touched by that. I think she looked quite overwhelmed by the moment—absolutely delighted to be there.”
Nicholl said that she feels as if “the Wimbledon championships has become synonymous with the Princess of Wales,” she said. “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 would have been a great shame for royal fans and for the princess herself. This was an important event for her.”
Nicholl added that Kate looked “resplendent” and “incredibly well and very happy to be there”: “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 said.
Sunday saw Kate and Charlotte at Wimbledon and Prince William and Prince George at the Euro 2024 final (no sightings, unfortunately, of Prince Louis at either sporting event), and these outings represent “a bit more of normal family life,” Nicholl said. “We know it’s been a very, very difficult few months for the family, as Kate’s gone through her shocking cancer diagnosis and clearly some pretty grueling treatment. But I think there’s a real sense that things are on the up for this family as they finish the summer.”
Nicholl confirmed it’s “unlikely” that Kate will make any more appearances this summer, and that Kate had two engagements this summer she really wanted to attend: Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon. Again, check and check. But now, Nicholl said, it’s all about the kids.
“I was speaking to a source at the Palace earlier who have confirmed that [the kids] are on summer recess and they will now just stay away from the public gaze,” she said. “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.”
As for Balmoral, “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,” Nicholl said. “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.”
Until next time, at least we have Wimbledon to look back on fondly.
