After enjoying a sunny day picnic with school children at her Back to Nature Garden at RHS Hampton Court yesterday, today the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine was once again out and about to cheer up the Wimbledon players.
An avid tennis fan, the Duchess of Cambridge made her first appearance at Wimbledon today on the day 2 of the tournament. Duchess, an amateur tennis player, took the patronage of All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club from Her Majesty the Queen in December 2016. The Duke of Kent is the President of the club.
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the British Summer and Royal Calendar highlight. Since 1877, it has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon – a private club founded on 23 July 1868 in London and is played on outdoor grass courts. Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for competitors and Royal patronage.
The inaugural Championships were held in 1877 at the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Worple Road, Wimbledon, with an entry of 22 men attracted by an announcement in The Field. A crowd of 200 watched Spencer Gore become the first Champion. Since then the championship has gone through major changes to be where it is today. This year the tournament is celebrating its 151st anniversary.
We have seen Duchess at Wimbledon for almost every year since her coming into the limelight except 2013 when she was due to give birth to her first child Prince George. It was revealed a few times ago that Prince George and Princess Charlotte are already playing with the tennis racket. I am sure Louis will be joining them soon at their Anmer Hall Tennis court.
The Duchess of Cambridge walks through the grounds on her way from Court 14 on her visit to the Championships.
A video of the day. From the Telegraph’s report,
A spokeswoman for the All England Club said, “We are delighted that the duchess in her capacity as Patron of the AELTC was keen to see the full breadth of The Championships and we were pleased to facilitate a visit to watch play on the outside courts and to watch practice at Aorangi Park”.
Typically Duchess is seated in the royal box, but today as she arrived earlier so she stopped at Court 14 to watch a match between Britain’s Harriet Dart and US player Christina McHale.
Harriet Dart is an alumna of Sports Aid, a charity whose Duchess is the patron. She won the match today and reached the second round.
A very happy @harriet_dart has a message for you…and the Duchess of Cambridge after her 1st ever @Wimbledon win 😀😀@KensingtonRoyal #BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/0FcxZ8RKBm
— LTA (@the_LTA) July 2, 2019
After winning the match Dart sends a very special message to all the supporters and Duchess.
During the visit, The Duchess visited the Aorangi Park to see the practice courts and players’ warm-up area. Aorangi means Aoraki- a Māori description of the highest mountain in New Zealand. Aorangi Park terrace is named after the London New Zealand Rugby Club’s grounds that was on the site until 1981.
Aorangi Park is a mostly grassed banked area in the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club where, during the annual Wimbledon tennis championship, crowds of people without show court tickets can watch the tennis matches live on a giant television screen at the side of No. 1 Court. The area is also known as ‘Henman Hill named after popular British player Tim Henman.
She met with met Johanna Konta and Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray during the visit. The Wimbledon Champion announced his retirement from singles tennis this year in January after a hip injury. He is participating in doubles this year in Wimbledon.
Catherine also met a number of finalists and winners nominated for the annual LTA Tennis Awards which recognize people who volunteer at the grassroots level to grow and open up the sport.
Duchess enjoying a moment during the visit.
Meeting with tennis aces.
Then Duchess moved to the royal box and was joined by the Wimbledon Chairman Philip Brook and his wife Gill where she watched a match between Germany players Tatjana Maria and Angelique Kerber. The royal box is an invitation-only sitting area where we usually see some high-profile faces every year. The senior royals attending Wimbledon usually sits in the front row of the box with Wimbledon Chairman.
For the day, following the white rule of the tournament, Duchess debuted a new a white dress from London based designer Suzannah.
She wore a vintage 1940’s Wiggle inspired customized Suzannah Flippy Wiggle Dress. Huge Thanks to Caroline Parr on Twitter for the quick id and confirmation from the label.
The £1850 midi length Italian silk crepe dress has a chic summer vibe to it featuring shirt style collared neckline, contrasting black buttons on the front and on cuffed styled sleeves with front slit hemline. The silhouette is contoured around the waist with delicate pin-tucks. Pin-tucks are also placed at the front yoke detail. The dress is designed to be an elegant tea-length.
It is described as, “A re-interpretation from our own archive. The original inspiration derives from a late 1940’s Wiggle Dress, which we have re-cut to have a skimming fit over the bodice and fluid gentle soft movement throughout the skirt hemline. ” This dress is available to pre-order and has a 6 weeks lead-time.
Duchess topped the dress with her Alexander McQueen Bow Front Belt that she first wore in March 2017 during Paris visit.
Catherine paired the outfit her Gianvito Rossi Piper 85 suede pumps that she debuted in March 2019 for the first time when she visited Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre. Pumps are still available on MyTheresa.
and her Catherine Zoraida Gold Fern Hoop Earrings that we recently saw coming back during the visit to Warren Park in June 2019.
Another new element of her wardrobe was Alexander McQueen Wicca Mini Clutch in Raffia bag. Thanks to UFONoMore on Twitter for the id. The shoulder bag featured a top handle, a foldover top with clasp closure, a shoulder strap and an internal slip pocket. The bag Catherine carried is sold out but available in different colours on Farfetch.
Catherine also brought back a UFO citrus ring that she has in her jewellery box since at least 2008 and
a new pair of Ray-Ban II 55mm Wayfarer Sunglasses. Thanks to Middleton Maven for Sunglasses id.
Catherine also wore the dark green and purple bow – Wimbledon colours that were introduced in 1909 following the discovery that the previous Club colours of blue, yellow, red and green were almost identical to those of the Royal Marines.
During the match, Duchess was seen holding Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector Lip Gloss. Thanks to hrhthekate for spotting it and luu297 for identifying it.
It looks like Duchess’ lip gloss colour is either rose shimmer or candy shimmer. The lip gloss is available online for $20. The lip gloss is described as, “A softly textured lip gel with a deliciously sweet scent and 3D shimmer. Experience the lusciously smooth, shiny and fuller lips you’ve always dreamed of. Sheer, but shaded enough to wear alone or to complement your favourite lip shade.”
I am sure we will be seeing Duchess at least one more time during the tournament, my guess is on the finale.
Dress Like Duchess
