17 July 2023 , 12:25
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Fans have rushed to defend the Princess of Wales after she was accused of embarrassing a Wimbledon ballboy by not shaking his hand.
Kate was at the men's final with Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte and as patron of the All England Club, had the honour of delivering the trophy to champion Carlos Alcaraz, who beat legend Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller.
As she made her way out onto Centre Court, Kate walked past a line of young ball boys and girls, shaking their hands and sometimes having a brief conversation.
However, the first lad she passed didn't receive a handshake, leaving some viewers watching on the BBC baffled as the youngster maintained his composure. Many took to social media to express their sympathy for the youngster and said they were confused by the move.
But since then, royal fans have rushed to Kate's defence and said it could have been that the princess was simply saving time - and it is normal for her not to shake every hand. One fan on Twitter pondered: "She may have shaken hands with him previously? Not everything happens on camera."
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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 it by saying: "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."
Kate meets some of the ballboys and girlsWhile another cast his mind back to previous Wimbledon championships, and said: "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 in fact, it was the eight-year-old Charlotte's first-ever visit to the tournament. Wearing a blue dress, she held Kate’s hand and walked ahead of George and William to reach the Players’ Lawn and greeted Wimbledon staff, police dog Stella and British wheelchair doubles champion Gordon Reid.
Kate with some of the ballboys and girls and Wimbledon (AP)In the Player’s Lawn, Kate told Ella Ottaway, who runs the All England Club’s young people programme, that Prince Louis was "very upset" that he was not attending. The princess said: "It’s Charlotte’s first time, George came last year. They’ve been eagerly watching.
"Charlotte, you’ve been getting to grips with the scoring. Louis was very upset he wasn’t coming today."
The princess also told 16-year-old ball boy Joel that Louis has been practising being a ball boy. After their conversation, Joel said: "He (Louis) tries to practise the standing and staying serious, like us.
"He tries to practise the stands and how we stand at the back of the court and next to the players." Charlotte petted Stella the springer spaniel, who searched Centre Court on Sunday morning on her last day at Wimbledon before retiring.
The young princess was also introduced to eight-year-old Mu’awwiz Anwar who is representing the charity WaterAid and who performed the coin toss at the match. Sunday marked Kate’s third visit to Wimbledon – this time wearing a green dress by Roland Mouret – over the course of this year’s tournament. The princess attended on Saturday and consoled a tearful Ons Jabeur after the Tunisian lost the ladies’ singles final against Czech player Marketa Vondrousova.