The Princess of Wales will attend the men’s singles tennis final at Wimbledon without the support of her husband on Sunday, if she is cleared by doctors to make the visit and is able to go, as she hopes.
Prince William is expected to travel to Germany that day to cheer on the English soccer team in the final of the European Football Championship, which will see England square off against Spain. If they win, it will be their first international tournament victory since winning the World Cup in 1966. William is patron of Britain’s Football Association.
Catherine is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and, in that role, has presented trophies at the tournament since 2016. A source told The Daily Beast earlier this week that she would “dearly love” to attend the ceremony this year. Her office have not ruled it out and Wimbledon have said they will announce if she is going to be there on the day of the finals. The men’s final is on Sunday and the women’s final is on Saturday.
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England got through to the final after beating the Netherlands 2-1 with a dramatic last minute goal Wednesday night.
It was the third time in the tournament that England have snatched a late victory.
King Charles sent a humorous message of congratulations to England’s soccer team after the result came in, urging them to “secure victory before the need for any last minute wonder-goals” for the sake of “the nation’s collective heart rate and blood pressure.”
England’s decisive goal was scored in the 91st minute by a player who had been substituted on as the game drew to a close.
Soccer matches officially last 90 minutes, but, rather than stopping the clock during play, referees add so-called “stoppage time” to account for time lost while the game is taking place.
William tweeted a message of congratulation which name-checked the player who scored, Ollie Watkins, who also plays for the club side William supports, Aston Villa. “What a beauty, Ollie,” he wrote.
If Catherine does appear at Wimbledon solo, it will mark another welcome step in her return to public duties.
She has not been seen in public this year following her cancer diagnosis apart from her headline-making appearance at the Trooping the Colour ceremony on June 15.
Kate’s parents, Carole and Mike, were at Wimbledon last week and a friend of Kate and William’s previously told The Daily Beast: “It is no secret that she would dearly love to be there, but when you are having chemo, as she herself said, there are good days and bad days. A lot depends on the timing of the treatments. She made it to Trooping the Colour, so if she can make Wimbledon, she will.”
Wimbledon’s chair, Debbie Jevans, has also expressed optimism that Kate might make it, saying: “We’re hopeful that the Princess of Wales will be able to present the trophies as the Club’s patron, but her health and recovery is the priority. We don’t know what we don’t know. All we’ve said is that we’ll work with her and give her as much flexibility as possible.”
Rumors that Kate would attend ramped up after Kate said in a statement last month, “I hope to join a few public engagements over the summer.”
