Featured Image Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Topics: Kate Middleton, Royal Family, Wimbledon, UK News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Kate Middleton, Royal Family, Wimbledon, UK News
The eyes of thousands of Wimbledon viewers fell onto the Princess of Wales last night, when she bestowed Men's Singles winner Jannik Sinner of Italy, and runner-up Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, with their accolades.
Unfortunately for Kate, however, the 43-year-old has been subjected to some criticism following her Centre Court appearance, for her supposed disregard for royal protocol.
The mother-of-three was a vision in blue as she took to the royal box on Sunday afternoon (13 July), where she was joined by husband Prince William and their two eldest children Prince George, 11 and Princess Charlotte, ten.
A day earlier, she'd attended the Women's Singles, where she presented Iga Swiatek of Poland with the winner's trophy, and the US' Amanda Anisimova with her runner's up equivalent.
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Similar to her summer 2024 appearance, the Princess was met with a standing ovation when she entered the stands.
As we say, however, whilst many fans were thrilled to see the brunette beauty out in public, others couldn't help but critique her.
After viewers of the men's match saw Kate walking to her seat ahead of William, 43, and guiding her children to theirs, a number of Reddit users accused her of breaking royal protocol, being that her husband is the future king.
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Claiming the unfairly contested Duchess of Sussex (Meghan Markle) would have been rinsed for the same behaviour, one hit out: "Kate walking in front of William, but that's OK. Protocol was only important when Meghan didn't follow it."
Another noted: "Kate has worked in front of William multiple times but yet Meghan get raked for it."
"Isn’t it against royal protocol for her to walk in from of William?" a third asked.
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A fan of the princess pointed out, however, that Kate was appointed as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2016, by her late grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.
"I think it’s because she is the patron here and therefore at this event he is supporting her," they wrote.
The tournament marked the second Kate has attended since she announced in March of last year that she'd been diagnosed with cancer.
In January, however, she confirmed she was in remission.
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And earlier this month, during an appearance at Colchester Hospital’s wellbeing garden, she admitted that the entire process has been 'really, really difficult'.
"You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment," she told attendees. "Treatment's done, then it's like, 'I can crack on, get back to normal,' but actually, the phase afterwards is really, really difficult.
"You're not necessarily under the clinical team any longer, but you're not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to.
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"And actually, someone to help talk you through that, show you and guide you through that sort of phase that comes after treatment, I think is really valuable."