The Duchess in Roksanda & a New Hat for Wimbledon Women’s Championship

The Duchess of Cambridge brought back a vibrant yellow Roksanda dress for today’s Wimbledon engagement. Below, Ian and Jenifer Hewitt greeted the Duchess.

Mr. Hewitt is chairman of the All England Club. The Duchess has been the royal patron of the club since 2016. 

Here you see the Duchess speaking with Gabia Sakaviciute, who did the coin toss for today’s women’s finals match.  Gabia was nominated for the honor by UK charity Jigsaw4U for her work taking care of her family and neighbors during the pandemic.  On the right, Edward Roberts, a  19-year-old graphic design student at Leeds University who designed the distinctive emblem for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

One of the coins celebrates the Queen’s Jubilee and the other marks the 100th anniversary of Centre Court.  Each special edition coin has a quote on its border.  Patricia Treble points out, “Featuring two famous quotes, one by Rudyard Kipling “meet with triumph and disaster” and the other by the Queen “my whole life … dedicated to your service.”

More from The Scottish Sun’s story. 

The group could be heard talking about Norrie’s loss in the semi-final on Friday, with Kate saying: “He had such a good game, he really did.”

Afterwards, the youngsters said they talked with Kate about their experience playing at Wimbledon. Carel said: “She asked us how our experience was here and if we’re hoping to play here when we get older – like the actual competition.

“It’s definitely an honour to meet her, it’s great to have this opportunity to meet someone so important.” 

Isabelle said: “She was saying that it was good that we were getting this far, that it’s a really good experience for the future as well.”

Then it was time to head to the royal box.  Below, the Duchess with 1997 Wimbledon champion Martina Hingis and Ian Hewitt.

Many of the sports’ great players, including Billie Jean King, were on hand. 

Martina Navratilova (r) and her agent, Mary Greenham (l).

In the center of this next photo, Conchita Martínez, Wimbledon women’s singles champion in 1994.

The Duchess and Ms. Martinez. 

A wide shot of the royal box.

Several celebrities were also in the box, including British singer Ellie Goulding.

Actor Tom Cruise. 

Dame Maggie Smith greets Billie Jean King. 

Actor Jodie Comer (C).

Others attending today’s match included Sir Cliff Richard, Cherie Blair, Grayson Perry, and Rebel Wilson. 

The Duchess and Mr. Hewitt.

Now we move to coverage of the match itself.  Below, Gabia Sakaviciute on her way to do the coin toss.

Ms. Rybakina (L) and Ms. Jabeur (R) immediately after the toss. 

More from The Guardian’s coverage. 

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur is the first woman of north African or Arab descent to reach a grand slam final and her chance to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish coincides with the celebration of Eid al-Adha.

Her opponent Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, is also in her first slam final. She opted to represent Kazakhstan four years ago but was born in Russia and still lives in Moscow. 

More from Wimbledon’s coverage of today’s match. 

Both players’ efforts were supported by their countries’ respective ambassadors. His Excellency Nabil Ben Khedher, representing the Republic of Tunisia, was accompanied by Kamel Deguiche, Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Tunisia.

Aljan Idris and Aigerim Arginbayeva, the son and daughter of Ambassador His Excellency Erlan Idrissov, were on hand to watch Rybakina, the world No.23, metaphorically wave the cyan-and-gold flag of Kazakhstan in her first Grand Slam final.

As ever, the Duchess very much seemed to enjoy watching the match. 

And more on the match from this Guardian story. 

As cries of “yalla” and “allez” rang out for Jabeur, the first Arab player and African woman to reach a grand slam final in the Open era, the challenge before her was made immediately clear by Rybakina as she slammed down a 119mph unreturned bomb on the opening point of the match and then snapped a forehand winner to hold serve.

We return to The Guardian’s story. 

But the momentum abruptly shifted at the beginning of the second set. Jabeur started the set by giving away a cheap service game with a series of unforced errors, netting a forehand on break point. Energised by the first sign of weakness, Rybakina held serve and as she grew in confidence she began to crush Jabeur’s second serve and anticipate Jabeur’s drop shots.

Ultimately Ms. Rybakina prevailed, winning in three sets.

It was time for the formal trophy presentations.  Below, the Duchess walks onto the Court.

Another view. 

She chatted with members of the grounds crew. 

As it looked from high in the stands.

You can see the table with today’s trophies and awards on it. 

The Duchess with Ons Jabeur. 

And Ms. Jabeur with the inscribed silver plate awarded to the second-place finisher.

The Duchess awards the Venus Rosewater trophy to Elena Rybakina.  The trophy is a sterling silver salver decorated with a mythological theme.

We learn more from Wimbledon’s coverage of the post-match action. 

Clearly struggling to find the words to describe her emotions, she said: “I’m speechless because I was super nervous before the match, during the match and I’m honestly happy that it finished. I’ve never felt something like this.”

She paid tribute to her opponent: “I want to congratulate Ons for the great match and everything you’ve achieved.

More from this New York Times article. 

Rybakina told the Centre Court crowd that it had been an honor to play in front of the royal box. She also thanked Bulat Utemuratov, the billionaire who is the president of the Kazakhstan Tennis federation for believing in her.

“I never felt anything like this,” she said, with Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, standing a few feet away.

Ms. Rybakina is the youngest champion to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish since Petra Kvitova in 2011. 

The champion shows off her trophy to the crowd gathered outside the Centre Court balcony. 

After the awards presentation, the Duchess watched the Men’s Doubles Final.

That match featured Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia, taking on Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell of Australia.

I don’t know the gentleman the Duchess is chatting with in this photo.

Another view. 

It was also the Men’s Wheelchair Doubles Final today.  Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina and Shingo Kunieda of Japan Pose with the winner’s trophy as Alfie Hewett of Great Britain and Gordon Reid of Great Britain pose with the runners-up trophy.

Now for our look at what Kate wore. 

She was in a Roksanda design first worn in Jamaica during the Caribbean tour. 

The design is called the Brigitte, and the Duchess wore a custom version of the garment.  The dress features a bow-effect bodice, short sleeves, a fitted waist, and full skirt, and a hidden back zipper.

Below, the current iteration of the off-the-rack version at Net-a-Porter ($1265).  The ready-to-wear color is described as light corn, while the Duchess’s color is referred to as marigold.  It is also available at Matches Fashion. 

The Duchess accessorized with her Gianvito Rossi 105 Pumps ($725) in white leather. 

As some may have noticed, the Duchess is wearing a hat in some of the photos.  With thanks to Lauren for the ID, it very much looks like LK Bennett’s Saffron Straw Hat ($95, out of stock).

The Duchess wore her Wimbledon members pin. 

We saw the return of the Kiki McDonough Eden Citrine Drops.

And the Bulgari sunglasses. 

They were first noted at Wimbledon in 2017. 

Here is one more photo from today’s match.

We’ll see you tomorrow when the Duke and Duchess both attend the Gentlemen’s Final. 

VIDEOS: 

Wimbledon shares almost three minutes of video. 

Ons Jabeur and Elena Rybakina arrive on Centre Court for the biggest match of their lives…

The Ladies’ Singles final awaits.#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 pic.twitter.com/D4qdxjMl3m

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2022