The Princess of Wales appeared to miss shaking hands with one of the ball boys on her way to present Carlos Alcaraz with his winning trophy at Wimbledon. Royal watchers have rushed to defend the Princess of Wales after she was accused of embarrassing a Wimbledon ball boy by not shaking his hand. On social media, Wimbledon fans expressed their surprise by commenting on the “poor fella” as they thought the Princess had “blanked” the first ball boy.
As she made her way onto Centre Court, Princess Kate walked past a line of young ball boys and girls, shaking their hands and having a brief conversation. But the first boy she passed, did not receive a handshake. The youngster maintained his composure and acted professionally, but viewers took to social media to express they were confused by the move.
The Mirror reports royal fans have rushed to the Princess of Wales’s defence, stating the Princess was saving time, and it is normal for her not to shake every hand. One fan on Twitter wrote: “She may have shaken hands with him previously? Not everything happens on camera.” While another pointed out: “They only shake a few hands. She didn’t shake hands with the other side either.” One fan tried to explain the logistics of what had happened: “I actually think he was prob in a blind spot, if u look closer she walks out and is prob just concentrating thinking the ball boys start at the green carpet.”
Another cast his mind back to previous Wimbledon championships: “I remember the Duchess of Kent doing exactly the same. They just pick a few random ones.” Kate was accompanied at Wimbledon for the men’s final by her family and it was the eight-year-old Charlotte’s first-ever visit to the tournament. Earlier in the day, the Princess of Wales had explained Prince Louis was “very upset” he was not attending the game.
Princess Kate said: “It’s Charlotte’s first time, George came last year. They’ve been eagerly watching… Louis was very upset he wasn’t coming today.” As Prince Louis is only five-years-old, it is assumed he was not yet old enough to be court-side for a tennis match running into four-and-a-half hours.
