LONDON — Catherine, Princess of Wales, appeared on Sunday afternoon at the Wimbledon tennis championship in London, a further step in her cautious return to public appearances after her cancer diagnosis.
She was greeted by prolonged applause as she took her seat in the front row of the royal box about five minutes before the scheduled start of the men’s singles final in which Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic. That applause was repeated as she walked on to center court to present the trophies when the match concluded.
The Princess of Wales has long been one of the most visible and most popular members of the royal family. But she stepped back from royal duties after having abdominal surgery in January, and her announcement in March that she had begun chemotherapy prompted a flood of concern about her health.
She largely stayed out of public view — save for a statement to the public last month saying that she was “not out of the woods yet” and thanking supporters for their well wishes — until June, when she joined her family at Buckingham Palace for a military parade, called Trooping the Color, to mark the king’s birthday.
Wimbledon is a familiar setting, with the promise of a friendly and enthusiastic crowd.
Catherine — a high school athlete who has repeatedly played sports as a working royal — has been a fixture at the tournament. She is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (commonly known as Wimbledon), a role she has held since 2016. She did not attend the women’s final on Saturday, although she has previously awarded trophies to both winners.
Catherine’s husband, Prince William, was also attending a major sporting event Sunday: The final of Euro 2024 in Berlin, where the English men’s soccer team was facing Spain.
That match is the subject of more intense excitement in England, which has been treating the occasion as something of a national holiday — the men’s team has not won a major international tournament since the 1966 World Cup.
A formal national holiday may yet follow. When asked about the idea at the NATO summit in Washington this past week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters that England “should certainly mark the occasion” if the team won, adding, “I don’t want to jinx anything.”
But William’s and Catherine’s public appearances come at a tough time for the family, whose public-facing ranks have been thinned by scandal and sickness.
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