Princess Kate Once Begged to Attend Wimbledon for Historic Match—But Was Banned

The Princess of Wales is a well-known tennis aficionado, and Wimbledon is an annual event on her calendar—including this week. In addition to being a true fan of the sport, Kate is also patron of All England Lawn Tennis Club, and for the past few years, she’s made several visits to the club during the tournament and has been on hand to present the singles winners with their trophies, The Mirror reports.

Ten years ago, despite her pleas to be allowed to attend, Kate missed Wimbledon for a very important reason—but, in the process, missed a huge, historic win. In 2013, Andy Murray made it to the men’s singles final “and was gunning to become the first British man to win the Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936,” The Mirror writes. “Kate, it seems, was eager to be at Wimbledon to cheer him on but was heavily pregnant with Prince George at the time, so she was advised to watch the match from home.”

Wimbledon typically occurs the first week of July; George was born on July 22 of that year. On the BBC documentary Our Wimbledon, Kate recounted the moment to host Sue Barker: “I was very heavily pregnant with George, so I wasn’t able to turn up,” she said.

Barker replied, “But you had a great excuse!” to which Kate responded “I know, but even still. I was sort of ‘Maybe I could go’ but the doctors were like ‘no.’ I wrote to [Andy Murray] afterwards saying sorry for not being there, but huge congratulations.”

Three years later, when Murray made the final again, Kate was able to be there for his second Wimbledon title, which she attended alongside husband Prince William. “Many congratulations—it was a great game,” Kate told Murray after the match. William added “So pleased for you, well done” before Kate added “You can relax with your family now.”

And in a full circle moment, son George has attended the tournament with his mom, even though he couldn’t attend with her in 2013.