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.”