Kate Middleton Will Attend Wimbledon Final to Carry Out Special Task Amid Cancer Treatment
Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, will attend the men’s singles finals at Wimbledon on Sunday, July 14, according to Kensington Palace.
The royal will carry out a special task at the tournament, presenting the winner—either Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz—with the coveted trophy.
This will be Middleton’s second public appearance since she announced her cancer diagnosis in March, the first appearance being her attendance at the annual Trooping the Colour on June 15.
In an update shared on June 14, Middleton, 42, announced she would be attending the King’s Birthday Parade, and shared that she “hope[d] to join a few public engagements over the summer.” However, the mother-of-three noted how she is “not out of the woods yet” as her “treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months.”
Since then, there has been much speculation that Wimbledon would be one of said summer public engagements, as Middleton is a known fan of the tournament and has been a fixture in the Royal Box for many years, previously attending every year but one since she married Prince William in 2011.
She is a patron of Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC), and has previously enjoyed viewing the matches alongside her husband, the Prince of Wales, and their children Prince George, 10, and Princess Charlotte, 9.
Though she has often also attended the women’s finals, she will be unable to attend this year’s iteration on Saturday between Barbora Krejčíková and Jasmine Paolini. As such, the trophy for the winner of the women’s tournament will be presented by British former professional tennis player Deborah Jevans.
“At the request of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, Patron of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, the trophies will be presented on court by Deborah Jevans CBE, Chair of The All England Lawn Tennis Club,” the statement from the AELTC read, per The Athletic.
Middleton already showed her support and love of the game earlier in the tournament when she shared an encouraging message to tennis legend Andy Murray after his Wimbledon career came to an anticlimactic end.