Pippa Middleton suffered an awkward moment with Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz yesterday – as he seemingly ignored her by accident.
The 40-year-old joined her sister, the Princess of Wales, and her niece, Princess Charlotte, on the last day of the nail-biting tennis tournament.
Kate, 42, presented the Wimbledon trophy to Alcaraz yesterday afternoon as the Spaniard won the Grand Slam for a second year in a row. The royal trio saw the reigning champion take on veteran Novak Djokovic, winning in three sets.
Kate and Charlotte, nine, spoke to the tennis player Alcaraz off the court and revealed she had been watching his performance at home.
However, when their interaction ended, the future Queen appeared to try and introduce Pippa to Alcaraz, but he didn’t notice and started walking away.
The mother-of-three, who has stepped away from public royal duties while undergoing cancer treatment, said: ‘This is Charlotte, [she was] cheering you on. You had everything crossed.
Alcaraz, who was dressed in all-white and holding his trophy, replied: ‘Nice to meet you.’
Kate then said: ‘We’ve watched a lot on telly, so it’s great to finally get to meet you,’ before repeating herself as the athlete was struggling to hear her.
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A star-struck Charlotte looked slightly shy as she stood next to Kate and smiled at Alcaraz during their conversation, as her aunt Pippa stood behind the pair and grinned at the interaction.
As their conversation came to an end, Kate could be heard saying ‘best of luck, enjoy the weather,’ as she touched the tennis player on his shoulder.
Alcaraz then said ‘thank you,’ before nodding at Princess Charlotte.
But the Princess of Wales could then be seen taking a couple of steps back to seemingly introduce Pippa to the Wimbledon champion, who was patiently waiting behind the trio.
Kate put her hand on her younger sister’s arm before they both took a step forward, but then the crowd began applauding Alcaraz, as he walked away.
Pippa, Charlotte and Kate then clapped as the champion took his trophy and stepped out of the room, appearing to not realise that he missed the opportunity to meet the Princess of Wales’s sibling.
Before passing the trophy to Alcaraz earlier on, Kate commiserated and shook the hand of runner-up Novak Djokovic.
Dressed in a £1295 bespoke dress from Safiyaa, the royal was greeted with a standing ovation as she headed into the Royal Box at Wimbledon earlier in the day, alongside Charlotte and Pippa, who was donning a caped Beulah midi dress.
Before the mother-daughter duo took their seats in the Royal Box, they met with female tennis stars, including 21-year-old Emma Radacanu, who all presented Kate with a bouquet of flowers
Charlotte grinned from ear to ear as she met with the tennis star, who sadly saw her Wimbledon dream crushed on Centre Court by New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun last week.
Kate and Charlotte were also greeted by Sonay Kartal, Lily Miyazaki, Lucy Shuker and Flora Johnson as they arrived on the players’ lawn at Wimbledon before entering Centre Court.
Charlotte gave wheelchair tennis player Shuker a ‘pinky promise’ that she would try the sport alongside her mother.
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Kate was also introduced to Raducanu, who was knocked out in the fourth round of this year’s championships, telling her: ‘It was so hard to see you go out.’
US Open winner Raducanu said it was ‘amazing’ to have the support of the princess and ‘see her here looking so healthy and happy’.
The daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who sported a £70 Polka Dot dress from Guess, was thrilled to meet the tennis star, and was photographed smiling ear to ear in her presence.
The mother and daughter then met the ‘Work at Wimbledon’ programme which supports young people from a range of backgrounds with roles at the Championships.
Alcaraz now has four Grand Slam trophies with a perfect record in major finals, after his two Wimbledon triumphs, his U.S. Open victory in 2022 and his French Open win last month. Defeat denied Djokovic a 25th Grand Slam title to surpass Margaret Court in the all-time list and also equal Roger Federer’s haul of eight men’s singles titles at Wimbledon.