Great Britain Back in the game: Princess Kate visits Wimbledon

SDA

14.7.2024 - 16:36

Princess Kate attended the Wimbledon men's final with her daughter Charlotte. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Princess Kate attended the Wimbledon men's final with her daughter Charlotte. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Keystone

After months of cancer treatment, Princess Kate (42) has appeared in public for a second time. People stand up and cheer as she enters the stands at the tennis tournament in Wimbledon. She has her daughter Princess Charlotte (9) and her sister Pippa (40) with her. The pictures give hope.

King Charles III's daughter-in-law withdrew from the public eye for a long time. Four weeks ago, she made her first appearance at a parade in London. Now it's Wimbledon, one of the most famous tennis tournaments in the world.

What Kate associates with the tennis tournament

Accompanied by applause, Kate takes her place in the stands in a purple dress. At the end, she presents the trophy to the Spanish defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who wins against the Serbian record Grand Slam tournament winner Novak Djokovic.

Kate is patron of the organizer, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, and has been to Wimbledon many times. She can play tennis herself and was on court with tennis legend Roger Federer just a year ago.

Why some people were so shocked by Kate's illness

When Kate made her illness public in a video message in March, it was perhaps the contrast that struck some people to the core. Here is this woman who seems almost perfect, quite fit, a mother of three children, in the middle of life - and yet facing such a difficult challenge.

Kate announced at the time that after an operation in her abdomen, it had been discovered that she had cancer and was receiving chemotherapy as a precaution. Prior to this, there had been much speculation about her absence.

Things have quietened down since then. British media, which are not exactly reticent when it comes to other topics, have refrained from taking paparazzi photos. And if you ask people on the street what they think about the whole story, some say that Kate now needs privacy.

How Kate talks about her illness

When Kate announced her appearance at the military parade, Kensington Palace also released a message. She is making good progress, but as anyone undergoing chemotherapy knows, there are good days and bad days, Kate wrote. She hopes to be able to make a few public appearances over the summer.

"But I also know that I'm not out of the woods yet," read a message from Kate, whose official name is Catherine. Her treatment will continue for a few more months. She is learning to be patient. To take each day as it comes. To listen to her body.

The royals have had a tough time

Kate's illness was not the only difficult piece of news that Britain's most famous family had to cope with. King Charles (75) is also being treated for an undisclosed cancer. His former sister-in-law Sarah Ferguson (64) also made another cancer diagnosis public.

And recently, Charles' sister Princess Anne (73) also had to go into hospital because she was presumably hit on the head by a horse in an accident. Kate and William happily commented on their X-channel at the weekend that Anne was back on the road. Charles is also traveling a lot again.

So while the royals had a lot going wrong at the beginning of the year, normality is returning. William (42) was not at Wimbledon, but wanted to travel to Germany for the European Football Championship final. It is not known when Kate will appear again in the near future. But the pictures from Wimbledon give us hope.