“It's great to be back at Wimbledon!” the social media accounts for Kate Middleton and Prince William proclaimed on Sunday. The announcement felt like more than just a celebration of tennis, however, as it was accompanied by several new photos of Princess Kate and daughter Princess Charlotte at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. “There's nothing quite like The Championships,” the tweet concluded, with a tennis ball emoji as its punctuation.
As promised the day before, Kate Middleton and her nine-year-old daughter arrived at the men's singles final Sunday afternoon, taking their seats at Centre Court for the match between 2023 champ Carlos Alcaraz and four-time titleholder Novak Djokovic, whom Alcaraz bested last year. The Princess of Wales's sister, Pippa Middleton, joined the mother and daughter in the Royal Box.
Princess Kate, an avid player herself, has been the patron of the All England Club since 2016. She's presented Wimbledon's finalists with their trophies for several years, but was absent for much of the 2024 competition due to her ongoing cancer treatments.
Today's match marks Middleton's second public appearance of 2024, following a January surgery that revealed her more serious illness. We last saw the princess in June, when she attended the Trooping the Colour birthday celebration for King Charles III.
“My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months,” Middleton said then. “I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. On those bad days, you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.”
Middleton says that she plans to continue treatments for “a few more months,” and is expected to slowly return to royal life as she recovers. “On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home,” Middleton said in June.
Middleton says she hopes “to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet. I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
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