The 74-year-old royal attended Wimbledon on Wednesday, taking in some of the matches at Centre Court and also meeting some of the staff members that ensure the tennis tournament runs smoothly, including some of the ball boys and girls.
During the chat, Queen Camilla asked the young woman if she was enjoying her first year as a ball girl.
“You have to be very agile,” the royal said in a video shared by Sky News before revealing her own time in the role at the Queen’s Club Championships. “I remember doing it 100 years ago at Queen’s. It’s quite difficult to get it right.”
Kate Middleton recently saw firsthand the intense training that the Wimbledon ball boys and girls undertake. The Princess of Wales, 41, teamed up with tennis star Roger Federer ahead of the tournament, playing a few sets before doing drills.
“To see the training and the dedication and the amount of time that is put into the training and making sure this goes well on the day for the champions who are playing at Wimbledon … Yeah, it’s incredible to see it behind the scenes,” Princess Kate said in a video shared on social media.
Nowadays, Queen Camilla stays fit with ballet classes and walks with King Charles (she’s previously said her husband is “like a mountain goat, he leaves everybody miles behind”). She even has sported a step tracker on her wrist during royal engagements.
When Queen Camilla took her seat in the Royal Box at Centre Court, she had a familiar face beside her: sister Annabel Elliot. The sisters have attended Wimbledon together in past years, but Annabel recently stepped into the spotlight at the coronation in May.
She — along with Camilla’s friend Fiona Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, the Marchioness of Lansdowne — acted as served as a coronation attendant for the Queen during the crowning ceremony.
Annabel is also one of six Queen’s Companions for Camilla, a modern spin on the traditional ladies-in-waiting that supported Queen Elizabeth throughout her reign.
Since King Charles and Prince William have yet to attend Wimbledon since the start of the new reign, it remains to be seen if players will make the gesture to them. It’s likely that Prince William will join Princess Kate at the finals this weekend, as he’s done in past years.
