Kate Middleton’s disappearance from the public eye earlier this year caused quite a storm. However, later, the Princess of Wales revealed to the public that she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment.
However, she made a major public appearance this weekend, and people cannot stop talking about it. Keep reading to learn more about what her appearance signifies.
On Sunday, Kate Middleton made her second public appearance since she announced her cancer diagnosis in March. The Princess of Wales watched as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz won the title against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
“It was quite a surprise to see her at the Wimbledon final, and we know that the Princess is a huge fan of tennis,” Royal expert Katie Nicholl said to the media about Kate’s attendance. She said, “Since 2016 she’s been patron of the Lawn Tennis Association. She’s been at every Wimbledon, so I think we all hoped that we would see her there.”
When she appeared at the event, she got a standing ovation as she made her way to the Royal Box at Centre Court to watch the match.
The Princess of Wales was accompanied by her 9-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, and Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, joined them.
“When she turned up, the crowd showed their appreciation with the standing ovation, which went on for quite a while actually, and the Princess [was] very, very touched by that,” Nicholl shared. “I think she looked quite overwhelmed by the moment, absolutely delighted to be there.”
“She is a great tennis player. She’s a huge fan of the game, and clearly Princess Charlotte has the tennis bug, too, something that runs in the Middleton family. So I think, for Kate to have not gone, and would have been a great shame for royal fans, for tennis fans and for the Princess herself,” she says. “This was an important event for her.”
Kate wore a gorgeous purple dress by Safiyaa. The look was accessorized with a bow-tie pin that represented her role. The pin featured official colors for the club: purple and dark green.
Nicholl noted that the dress was surely chosen “because the colors of Wimbledon are green and purple, so that that color of dress was a very deliberate choice, and I think she looked incredibly well and very happy to be there.”
While Kate is a regular attendee of Wimbledon, she was noticeably absent from the majority of the competition as she is currently being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.
“We know that the Princess is undergoing a course of preventative chemotherapy, that she’s still undergoing that course, and we know from what she said, that there are good days and bad days,” Nicholl said. “This, of course, is only her second public appearance. Since her cancer diagnosis, she was determined to be at Wimbledon.”
She made her first public appearance last month in June 2024 when she joined the royal family during the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Nicholl also says to the media that the Princess was “determined” to attend the King’s official birthday celebration,
“She explained that she has good days, and she has bad days, and we know from the palace that when they announce that she’s going to attend an engagement, it’s always with the caveat that if she’s not feeling well on the day she may have to pull out of something at the 11th hour,” Nicholl explained. “Fortunately that wasn’t the case, and she was able to attend the finals for Wimbledon.”
“I think when we look at the Princess, we see her looking as well as she did, smiling, healthy, radiant, and we can assume that she’s now tolerating this chemotherapy far better than she was in the early stages and that she’s doing well at the moment,” she went on.
Nicholl says that while her presence at Wimbledon was great, she thinks it is ‘unlikely’ that she will be making any more appearances.
“I was told there were two key engagements that she wanted to make: Trooping the Colour, and Wimbledon, both of which she was able to attend,” the royal expert said. “I was speaking to a source at the palace earlier, who have confirmed that [the children] are on summer recess and they will now just stay away from the public gaze. They will hunker down as a family, more likely than not at Norfolk and Mahal, their countryside bolt hole, and the Princess is not able to travel at the moment while she’s undergoing this course of preventative chemotherapy. So I think that probably rules out an overseas holiday. “
She also added, “I think it’s likely that we will see the family go to Scotland at the invitation of the King and Queen later this summer in August. But I think it’s going to be low-key and very much below the radar, so I don’t think we can expect to see the Princess of Wales for some time now.”
