The Princess of Wales proves no one does Wimbledon style like her
Since her first appearance at the championship as a royal in 2011, the Princess of Wales has become as much a part of Wimbledon tradition as strawberries and cream. Although her appearance this year was uncertain up until the last minute, due to her ongoing cancer treatment, there was a collective sense that – after the royal turmoil of the year so far – everything felt right again when the Princess, accompanied by her daughter Princess Charlotte and her sister Pippa Matthews arrived to watch the men’s finals on Sunday afternoon.
And just like every other time she’s visited SW19 in the past 13 years, the Princess offered a new and inspired spin on ‘literal’ Wimbledon dressing. On this occasion, she added a new category to her repertoire: Her ‘All England Club purple’ dress, with its intricately pleated bodice and full skirt, coordinated perfectly with the purple shade in the official club colours of the lawn tennis club where the Grand Slam event is held.
Purple was chosen alongside dark green to be the official colours of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, of which the Princess is Patron, in 1909 but “the decision as to why dark green and purple were chosen is not stated in the Club’s records”, according to its website.
The Princess’s dress is a new addition to her wardrobe and comes from British demi-couture brand By Safiyaa – a similar style, named the Cecilia, costs £1,295. Kate first wore the label to the Royal Variety Performance last December and clearly liked its ability to deliver a precisely tailored yet feminine silhouette. The brand also dressed the Duchess of Sussex on several occasions when she was a working royal.
Kate also wore a new pair of earrings for her much-anticipated Wimbledon visit – only her second public appearance this year. She debuted a £500 pair of hoops by sustainable British jewellery label By Pariah. If her dress was a classic regal choice, then the earrings gave her outfit a modern twist. The style, after all, has been worn by Hailey Bieber and Rosie Huntington Whiteley.
“I am absolutely delighted to see Kate wearing my earrings,” By Pariah’s founder Sophie Howard told The Telegraph. “They are named after my mum so are close to my heart and to see her wearing them in By Pariah’s hometown feels extra special.” The Princess also carried an LK Bennett bag and wore tan slingback heels by Camilla Elphick.
Attending Wimbledon must have felt like a monumental moment for the Princess, who has spent the year so far recovering from the surgery she underwent in January and being treated for cancer. She was supported by Princess Charlotte and her sister Pippa Matthews who, in a sartorial show of solidarity, both channelled the Wimbledon look in their own ways.
Charlotte wore a £70 navy and white dress by American label Guess which referenced another of her mother’s favourite Wimbledon style categories – tennis ball spots. Kate has worn polka dots to the tennis four times previously so it was sweet to see her daughter continuing the tradition.
Meanwhile, the Princess’s sister opted to re-wear a pretty pink and cream floral dress by Beulah, another royal favourite London brand, which she is believed to have first worn at the wedding of her brother James Middleton to Alizée Thevenet in 2021. Could this colour combination even have been a nod to strawberries and cream?
As a trio, Kate, Charlotte and Pippa couldn’t have been a more stylish template to nailing Wimbledon chic.
More of the Princess of Wales’ favourite ‘literal’ Wimbledon style strategies
Tennis whites
The original and most obvious route to mastering a specific brand of Wimbledon chic is to nod to the player dress code, which states that ‘competitors must be dressed in suitable tennis attire that is almost entirely white’ – not for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club the garish and clashing kit seen on court at other Grand Slam championships.
The Princess looked ready to step onto court when she attended Wimbledon for the first time as a royal in 2011 sporting an Alice Temperley tiered mini dress, which looked comfortable and swishy enough to pick up a racket in.
Kate has returned to the tennis whites look since then, though never in quite such an athletic way. In 2014, she wore a pretty broderie anglaise by Australian label Zimmermann which brought a boho vibe to the Royal Box. 2019’s Suzannah number, meanwhile, conveyed the Princess’s evolution towards a more polished image with its prim puff sleeves and vintage button-through silhouette.
Grass court green
There’s never much chance of the Princess blending in at Wimbledon where her presence has given a new regal gloss to the championship in recent years, but she’s certainly attempted to co-ordinate with SW19’s famous grass tennis courts several times.
Kate made her ‘grass court green’ debut at the championships in 2019 when she re-wore a ladylike bow-detail Dolce and Gabbana frock to watch play alongside her sister, Pippa and the Duchess of Sussex. The best grass green moment, though, came in 2021 when Kate selected a chic full-skirted Emilia Wickstead dress for the Ladies’ finals, which she teamed with bright-white Jimmy Choos to create a brilliantly literal court-markings effect.
Last year’s grass-green Roland Mouret looked like a promising follow-up but sadly became ever more creased throughout the afternoon.
Tennis ball yellow
They’re not an obvious fashion reference but Kate has even found inspiration in the fluoro yellow tennis balls, which provide a bold contrast to the grass courts at Wimbledon. Her first foray into ‘tennis ball yellow’ came in 2016, when she recycled a neat Roksanda shift dress first seen during a tour to Australia in 2014 – at the time, Prince William had called it her ‘banana’ dress, though it was likely meant as a tribute to the traditional colour of Australia.
The Princess deployed ‘tennis ball yellow’ again in 2018, opting for a flutter-sleeved Dolce and Gabbana design for the men’s final. She turned to Roksanda – a London-based designer renowned for her inventive colour palettes – again in 2022 with a fit-and-flare dress with a bow flourish at the shoulder, which gave a more ladylike spin on the Slazenger tube starting point.