Hopes rise that Princess Kate will attend Wimbledon final and present trophies as she continues cancer treatment
THE Queen enjoyed an epic quarter-final clash at Wimbledon yesterday — amid hopes the Princess of Wales will present trophies this weekend.
Kate, 42, who is patron of the All England Club, revealed earlier this year that she has been having treatment for cancer.
She made her first public appearance since at Trooping the Colour for the King’s birthday last month.
That has led to hopes that she may make an appearance this weekend to give the winners their silverware — just as she did last year with men’s singles champion Carlos Alcaraz.
All England Club chairwoman Debbie Jevans said: “We’re hopeful that the Princess of Wales will be able to present the trophies as the club’s patron, but her health and recovery is the priority.
“We don’t know what we don’t know. All we’ve said is that we’ll work with her and give her as much flexibility as possible. We’re staying flexible. When we hear we’ll then think about what’s the right thing to do.”
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Former royal butler Paul Burrell said it was “highly likely” Kate will make an appearance as she is a “huge tennis fan”.
It came as Camilla attended day ten of the Championships, where she met Olympic silver medalist Laura Robson and coach Jamie Delgado, who holds the men’s record for playing in 23 consecutive Wimbledons.
Camilla told Laura it was “so nice to be able to escape for a day”. She also told Wimbledon’s head gardener Martyn Falconer: “It all looks fantastic. It always looks absolutely perfect.”
The Queen also met the daughter of Mexican doubles player Santiago Gonzalez, whose name is Camila, and joked “fancy having two Camillas here”.
Her Majesty then met club officials and ball boys and girls before taking her place in Centre Court’s Royal Box to watch the day’s matches.
Other royals there included Peter Phillips and his girlfriend Harriet Sperling, and Zara Tindall and her husband Mike.
The Princess of Wales’ parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, were in the Centre Court stands.
Celebs watching on included actress Keira Knightly, Olympian Sir Mo Farah and Britain’s Got Talent Judge Amanda Holden and her daughter Lexi.
Crowds clapped as the sun finally emerged after a morning of rain.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time Wimbledon winner, went straight through to the semi-finals without hitting a ball after his opponent, Aussie Alex de Minaur, pulled out with a hip injury.
In the other men’s singles, reigning champ Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Lorenzo Musetti are also through.
In the women’s singles, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who won the championships in 2022, cruised into the semis with a 6-3 6-2 win over Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
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Her opponent in the last four will be Czech Barbora Krejcikova.
Croatian Donna Vekic plays Italian Jasmine Paolini in the remaining women’s singles semi-final.
