Like mother, like daughter: Princess Charlotte, much like her mother, the Princess of Wales, “has always loved tennis,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward said, per The Sun. “Tennis is a big family thing on both sides,” she added, referring to, of course, the royal family, but also the Middleton family, comprised of Charlotte’s grandparents Michael and Carole, her uncle James, and her aunt Pippa, who joined Kate and Charlotte yesterday at Wimbledon for Kate’s second public appearance of the summer.
“It is a super special day for Kate to be able to share it with Charlotte and much more fun for her to have Charlotte there and explain to her the details of what is going on,” Seward said.
But, Seward added, it goes deeper than that: in bringing Charlotte along with her to Wimbledon to see the men’s singles final yesterday, Kate was honoring a longtime promise to her only daughter, and it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. “It was a long held promise that Kate would take Charlotte to the finals as a special treat,” Seward said. “Kate felt guilty she hadn’t been able to spend as much time as she would have liked to be with the kids because of her exhaustion after her treatment.”
Charlotte also was there “to deflect things away from her [Kate], too,” Seward added. “Kate was determined to be at Wimbledon on finals day if she possibly could.”
Kate’s appearance yesterday follows her triumphant return to royal duty at Trooping the Colour almost exactly one month ago—the first time she had been seen in an official capacity since Christmas Day 2023. Kate—not just an aficionado of tennis herself but also the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which hosts the fabled tournament, since 2016—apparently realized she wouldn’t be able to attend both the women’s final on Saturday and the men’s final on Sunday, but her being there at all “is a positive sign for Kate’s recovery program,” Seward said. “But this is only her second appearance in a year, and will possibly be her last until after the school holidays are over.”
Much like at Trooping the Colour, “Charlotte is still showing signs of being her mother’s wing-girl,” body language expert Judi James told The Mirror of Charlotte’s Wimbledon appearance—her second in a row, after attending for the first time last summer alongside dad Prince William and older brother Prince George. (Those two had other plans this year.) “She is now grown up enough to walk independently beside or behind her mother, with Kate only performing a small, loving touch on the back to bring her forward for her handshakes.”
James added that Charlotte is “tuned in” to her mother, and is her mirror: “Charlotte is so clearly still using her mother as her body language role model, too,” she said. “She appeared to be tuned into Kate closely, changing her own pose to mirror her mother’s while they all stood chatting.”
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK that Charlotte has a special bond with her mother, which has been on full display at both Trooping the Colour last month and Wimbledon yesterday. “Each of the children is special in their own way—George, the adored first born; Charlotte, the only girl; and Louis, the baby of the family,” Bond said. “But I think there is always a special bond between mother and daughter, and as Charlotte grows older and witnesses the shock of her mum being ill, I’m sure that bond has become even closer.”
Harkening back to James’ comments about Charlotte mirroring her mother, Bond said “Charlotte is now of an age where she probably feels like she can reverse the roles a little and take care of her mother as she recovers,” she said. “Charlotte certainly shows every sign of taking after Catherine in looks and her love of sport and the great outdoors. As time goes on, I’m sure they will become more than just mum and daughter but also great companions to one another, just like Catherine and her mother, Carole.”
And when Kate received a well-deserved standing ovation, no one smiled wider than Charlotte—the only person in the entire world who can say she’s Kate’s daughter.
