Expert Predicts Kate Middleton Won’t Make Another Public Appearance for ‘Some Time Now’ After Wimbledon
It looks like Wimbledon might’ve been Kate Middleton’s last public appearance for a while. An expert says the Princess of Wales isn’t likely to make another public appearance for “some time” following the tennis tournament that’s become a fixture on the 42-year-old’s calendar. Why? Because, amid her ongoing cancer treatment, Kate’s made it to the two events this summer she wanted to attend.
Wimbledon and Trooping the Colour were ‘key’ events Kate didn’t want to miss
Kate is “unlikely” to make more appearances, Katie Nicholl, a royal expert and author, told ET following the royal mother of three’s day at Wimbledon on July 14, 2024.
She went with her and Prince William’s 9-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, and got a standing ovation as they took their seats in the Royal Box.
A palace source, Nicholl said, told her “there were two key engagements that she [Kate] wanted to make: Trooping the Colour, and Wimbledon. Both of which she was able to attend.”
Indeed, Kate did step out at both events. On June 15, 2024, she went to Trooping the Colour, King Charles III’s annual birthday parade. It marked her first public appearance of the year following her March 2024 cancer diagnosis announcement.
Kate rode in a carriage and stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony with Prince of Wales and their three children: Prince George, 10, Charlotte, and Prince Louis, 6. Then, almost a month later to the day, she and Charlotte went to the Wimbledon finals.
She’s returning to ‘normal family life’
“Normal family life” was the theme of the weekend. While Charlotte and Kate were at Wimbledon, George and William were in Germany watching Team England in the final game of the UEFA European Championship.
“I think, having Princess Kate and Charlotte at [Wimbledon], William and Prince George over at the football for the final; we’re seeing a bit more of normal family life,” Nicholl said.
“We know it’s been a very, very difficult few months for the family, as Kate’s gone through her shocking cancer diagnosis and clearly some pretty grueling treatment,” she continued. “But I think there’s a real sense that things are on the up for this family as they finish the summer.”
The Wales family is getting ready to ‘hunker down’ for the rest of the summer after Wimbledon
Nicholl continued, saying now that George, Charlotte, and Louis are on summer vacation from school, the royal family of five will be headed for Anmer Hall, their country home in Norfolk, England.
“I was speaking to a source at the palace earlier, who have confirmed that [the children] are on summer recess and they will now just stay away from the public gaze,” she said.
“They will hunker down as a family, more likely than not at Norfolk […], their countryside bolt hole.” Staying closer to home is ideal for Kate, too. She “is not able to travel at the moment while she’s undergoing this course of preventative chemotherapy. So I think that probably rules out an overseas holiday.”
However, going to Scotland for the royal family’s annual summer getaway at the Balmoral estate will probably happen.
“I think it’s likely that we will see the family go to Scotland at the invitation of the King and Queen later this summer in August,” Nicholl said. “But I think it’s going to be low-key and very much below the radar. So I don’t think we can expect to see the Princess of Wales for some time now.”
The date of Kate’s return to royal duties is unknown
At the time of writing, Kensington Palace—William and Kate’s office within the royal family—hasn’t announced a date for the future queen’s return. Previous palace updates noted Kate wouldn’t go back to work until doctors cleared her to do so.
In June, shortly before going to Trooping the Colour, Kate shared in a social media statement she had a “few” more months of preventative chemotherapy treatment left, suggesting returning to duties this summer isn’t likely.
In the meantime, Kate’s learning to deal with “uncertainty” surrounding her health as she has both “good and bad days.”
As for future updates, Nicholl said that while information on Kate’s progress can be expected “at some point,” seeing her “smiling” at Wimbledon was a good sign.
“I think when we look at the princess,” she said, “we see her looking as well as she did, smiling, healthy, radiant, and we can assume that she’s now tolerating this chemotherapy far better than she was in the early stages and that she’s doing well at the moment.”
