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The Duchess Mixes Old and New for Wimbledon

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The Duchess of Cambridge mixed old and new pieces for her visit to Wimbledon today. 

There was no play last year when the Championships were canceled for the first time since World War II.  Below, a photo from June 9 as preps were underway for this year’s tournament.

It is the fifth day of the Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The Duchess is patron of the All England Club. 

Here is a very quick video from Kensington Palace. 

The Duchess watched the first round of the Gentlemen’s Doubles on Court 14, with Britain’s Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares taking on Nicholas Monroe of the United States and Vasek Pospisil from Canada.

More from The Scotsman’s coverage. 

The Duchess of Cambridge was among the crowd on court 14 for Murray and partner Bruno Soares’ match, to the surprise and delight of Andy’s big brother.

Murray was told by text to expect a special visitor. “I was kind of wondering who it was and thought it had to be someone pretty big,” he said…”When I got on court I clocked straight away.”

“That was really cool. It was great she was able to come out and support us, especially since it was court 14. But Bruno didn’t notice the whole match. He only found out afterwards from some friends in Brazil.

The Duchess is seated with Sally Bolton OBE, the first female Chief Executive of the AELTC and former British Player Tim Henman OBE.  

Mr. Murray and Mr. Soares won the match in two sets.

The Duchess then visited the Wimbledon kitchens.

Here you see her with the club’s Executive Chef, Adam Fargin.

While there was no championship last year because of the pandemic, the kitchen did operate, making more than 200 meals a day for those in need. More from The Telegraph’s story by Victoria Ward. 

The masked Duchess helped decorate tennis ball macaroons and was shown how to hull Wimbledon’s iconic strawberries with a spoon.

“It’s interesting, I’ve always done this with a knife, but then you probably lose more of the strawberry,” she said.

“I’ve learnt two new things.”

As someone who has hulled a lot of strawberries (as recently as last night), this was fascinating news.

The Mirror reports Kate “… had a go at preparing some of the world-famous Wimbledon strawberries on her day out at the tennis…hungry fans chomp through around two million every championship.” 

Here is a quick video.  

The Duchess decorating some of the dessert goodies.

And arranging some of the desserts.

After her stop in the kitchen, the Duchess toured the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. 

Here you see her in front of a new portrait of Andy Murray by Maggie Hambling.  More from Hello’s story.

…the Duchess paused for several minutes at the Andy Murray portrait, by Maggi Hambling, which is on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, of which she is patron.

Keen art fan Kate said: “I love it. It has a lot of movement.

“It is very pretty. I like the concept of taking portraits back to the cities or home towns or here, it is such a good idea.”

Hello! also reports, “The museum is a tribute to the heritage of the game and the history of The Championships and open to ticket-holders for free for the first time this year.”

She was given the museum tour by Wimbledon’s head of heritage, Adam Chadwick.

Below, the Duchess tests her reaction times at an interactive exhibit. 

Rebecca English shared a video. 

Another view.

After the kitchen and museum visits, the Duchess went to Centre Court to watch Women’s singles play.

Here you see her headed to the Royal Box.

More from The Independent’s coverage: 

Taking her place on Centre Court, Kate looked in good spirits as she smiled and laughed while talking to the duke. She was also spotted speaking with fitness coach Joe Wicks.

On Centre Court, the Royal Box has 74 seats that are reserved for the royal family and invited guests of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, of which the duchess has been a patron since 2016.

Here you see her with the Duke of Kent, President of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club, a position he has held since 1969.

She watched Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza play their third-round match.

On the Duchess’s left, AELTC Chairman Ian Hewitt.  Behind the Duchess was fitness coach Joe Wicks (blue suit, white shirt, light blue tie). More from Hello: 

The Duchess was spotted chatting with Joe Wicks, known as The Body Coach. He kept the nation’s children fit during lockdown with his series, PE with Joe. 

He was awarded his MBE in the Birthday Honours of 2020 for his incredible efforts. 

Below, Ms. Jabeur. 

Another view. 

We learn more about the match from a post on the Wimbledon site. 

Making her Centre Court debut at Wimbledon on Friday, the No.21 seed Jabeur showed her dream is finally becoming a reality as she dazzled the crowd with her entertaining brand of tennis to dispatch two-time Grand Slam champion and ex-world No.1 Garbiñe Muguruza 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 and become the first Arab woman to reach the last-16 stage at the All England Club.

Now for our look at what Kate wore for her Wimbledon visit.  
 The Duchess was in the Pleated Polka Dot Silk Skirt ($618, originally $1030) by Alessandra Rich.

Crafted of a dark blue and white silk crepe de chine, the skirt is midi length with a concealed side zipper.  It is from the designer’s Spring ’21 ‘Euphoria’ collection, the title coming as Alessandra Rich “thought about the joy of dressing up.”  The skirt is available in a mix of sizes of Net-a-Porter ($618) and also at Cettire ($645.71), and in very limited sizes at Farfetch ($1199).  There is also a matching top ($969) designed to go with the skirt.  Many thanks to British Royal Fashion Data and Regal RepliKate for the skirt ID. 

This is not the only blue polka dot Alessandra Rich style the Duchess has worn. Below, you see her wearing a dress by the brand at Bletchley Park in May 2019.

She wore her Smythe One-Button Blazer ($695).  

The style is offered at Saks, as well as Shopbop, Smythe, and Amazon.  Carly of Kate Middleton Style pointed out that it is exactly ten years ago Wednesday that we first saw the Duchess wearing the jacket as she boarded a flight from London to Ottawa, Canada.

The Duchess carried a Mulberry bag we’ve not seen previously, the Small Amberley Crossbody (£472, about $650) style.  The bag measures roughly 5″ x 7″ x 2.5″ and has the equestrian rider’s lock on the front. Both the chain and top handle are removable.  Thank you again to British Royal Fashion Data for the speedy handbag ID.

Kate wore a new pair of heels that look like the Jimmy Choo Romy 85 style, a classic point-toe style with a 3.3″ heel.

Thank you to Gabi and MiddletonMaven for the shoe ID. 

Kate’s hair was down with a loose curl. You can see her purple and green Wimbledon members pin on her jacket.  I believe her mask is the adult Blue Phoebe style (£15) from Amaia Kids.   

She repeated her Simone Rocha Curb Chain Earrings (.

As well as her Spells of Love Double Strand Beaded Satellite Chain Necklace (£75) and Daniella Draper Trio Diamond Midnight Moon Necklace ($1850).  

The Duchess wore her Halcyon Days bangle bracelet as well today. 

Kate brought back her Ray-Ban ‘Youngster’ Sunglasses in gradient brown ($153), first noted at Wimbledon in 2018.

VIDEOS: 

Kensington Palace posted a quick video of the museum tour. 

 

The Royal Family Channel has 3 minutes+ from today’s engagement. 

 

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Debs

Wednesday 7th of July 2021

Seeing Wimbledon is still ongoing and sadly without Catherine , I want to share why I think she wears some of the jewellery she does . They are gifts to her and she honours the giver by wearing pieces to events .

Some years back someone wrote in saying she noted that Catherine was wearing earrings gifted to her by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden during the Cambridge’s visit to Sweden . She said it was particularly thoughtful that she was wearing it to Wimbledon that day and it was Victoria’s birthday !

Mary H

Tuesday 6th of July 2021

With the exception of two occasions, Catherine never quite gets her Wimbledon outfits "right" for me. This outfit, unfortunately, is another example. Each piece is fine, but together the pieces don't work to make a cohesive ensemble. A fitted skirt with the top and blazer, or a fitted top with the skirt, would have been a much better look, especially if she had pulled her hair back.

Susan St

Tuesday 6th of July 2021

I agree, Evy. The criticism of Kate seems very harsh for a beautiful silk skirt, shirt, and jacket. I think she looked great. I so hope that she has the peplum top for that skirt!

Deliane

Monday 5th of July 2021

crisp! and lovely.. but polka dots a-l-w-a-y-s add a touch of joy- a smile to the outfit!

remember pregnant Kate in polka dots with William and Harry at Hogwarts?! happier days-- who knew the whole world would be on pause for a year..... !

always.. decided to post in order to say, oooh! I hope Kate bought the Alessandra Rich top too! I love a peplum top, especially on an elegant figure--

and love the old memory-shot of Kate in blue blazer 'walking to a flight to Canada': secret confession-- this is the ONLY time I have ever coveted and tried to buy a handbag seen in a 'celebrity' photo! I was unsuccessful.. I think I looked for it long after it was sold out. I even looked on eBay-like sites! ! so unlike me-- but what a beautiful bag.

.. sigh. love this site. small, secret few-times-a-week pleasure.. thank you-------

admin

Monday 5th of July 2021

Thank you, Deliane. :)

Katie

Monday 5th of July 2021

I’m surprised by all this talk about handling Kate with kid gloves. I’m all for deleting comments that are sexist or racist but a future queen is going to be scrutinized for her taste because presentation is part of the job. It’s harder on women because, lol, we’re just more interesting to look at and female attire has more options than male attire so fans expect more. Now Americans are less formal than the British but Americans on a Kate site obviously like a more ladylike sense of dress so don’t assume we’re out of touch if we want Kate to jazz it up a little. I like most of what Kate wears and I don’t want her to look like a Hollywood celebrity because most of them look like they need a comb, a good scrub, and a steam iron! What I think ‘critics’ are saying (even the grouchy ones) is Kate is young and attractive, has a super fab figure, plenty of money, the best fashion advisors on speed dial, and a world stage to play for so why not have a bit of fun? This is actually helpful criticism because If Kate is going to raise millions for good causes then she has to be the gl-amazon people want to see. After the show stopper Diana was, it takes more than an HRH title to get people to open up their wallets. No one is saying Kate should be Diana but take a page from Diana’s playbook like Mary or Letizia have because Di was pretty darn good at princess PR. Sometimes, you have to tell a friend the truth to help her like, “No, on the low-cut, black dress because you look desperate, “No, on the polka dots again because its grandma vibes,” “Yes, on the peach, silk skater dress because it’s feminine, flirty, and soft to the touch.” That’s what ’critics’ like me are trying to say. We’re not trying to tear Kate down or control her or demand she spend a fortune (frankly I prefer the Zara looks because then I get to go on a treasure hunt!). We’re trying to help because we love fashion and we like Kate and we want to put the two together more. So I hope to see more healthy debate on Kate’s fashion choices in the future so this site stays fresh and lively. Cheers! :)

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