In an interview on BBC 1’s Sue Barker: Our Wimbledon show on Sunday, The Duchess of Cambridge talked of her ban from attending the Wimbledon tennis final in 2013 – she was heavily pregnant with Prince George and her doctor said no!
The Duchess of Cambridge was banned from attending the men’s Wimbledon 2013 final by her doctor as she was 8 months pregnant; Kate has attended most years since joining the Royal Family
Catherine, patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is a big tennis fan and wanted to go to Wimbledon to see Andy Murray playing in the final against Novak Djokovic on 7th July; but because she was eight-months pregnant with Prince George, her doctor told her that she ‘definitely’ could not attend the game for her own health and that of the baby.
She gave birth 15 days later on 22nd July.
Even though the Duchess had begged her doctor to let her go to the final, and he had said no on medical grounds, Kate still thought it important to write to Murray to apologise for her absence: “I was very heavily pregnant. I wrote to him [Murray] afterwards saying sorry for not being there.”
Before she married Prince William, Kate used to stand in line for hours to get a ticket to Wimbledon games, and watched the event at home as a child with her family; she even had dreams of becoming a tennis pro herself… and these dreams haven’t fully gone away. The Royal told Sue Barker: “It [tennis] inspires young people including myself. Every time Wimbledon is on I am thinking ‘Yes, I could do the same’ and get out the racket. Sadly, not the same results.”
The interview comes as part of a BBC documentary to mark 90 years of the elite tennis competition coverage, and The Duke of Kent also features as the club’s president; Catherine called Wimbledon “hugely special”.
A few more Middleton family secrets came to light in the interview, including how her mum, Carole, has a big crush on Roger Federer, she said: “Roger [Federer] is my mother’s heartthrob. I don’t think she will mind me saying that! I think he probably knows that too.”
Federer was even a guest at the recent wedding of Kate’s sister Pippa. Kate also revealed how her dad called Tim Henman “Pete”:
“My father is not going to appreciate this but we were walking past Tim Henman and had just seen Sampras play. “My dad said “Hi Pete”. I was mortified.”
Now Kate can attend Wimbledon whenever she wants – she can use the Royal Box! She is due to visit the arena on the opening day of play next week.
You can watch the documentary featuring The Duchess of Cambridge on 2nd July at 5:20pm on BBC2.
