Kate Middleton’s provocative appearance at the Wimbledon tennis championships on Sunday gave her “fuel”, according to a report.
The Princess of Wales, 42, was greeted with a standing ovation at the annual grand slam, just four months after revealing her cancer diagnosis to the world in March.
“It gave her strength,” a palace source told People. “She went through a terrible, stressful time, and it’s crucial to have small victories to look forward to or give yourself the courage and energy to move forward. And that was the case.”
Prominent royal author Robert Jobson told the outlet that Middleton “showed great courage and character because she knew the world was watching.”
The mother-of-three delighted fans as she arrived at the All England Lawn Tennis Club alongside her nine-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte and sister Pippa Middleton.
Photographer Karwai Tang, who captured the royal family’s entrance, said the moment was made even more special as Charlotte beamed with pride.
“She usually comes in, comes down and sits down,” Tang told the outlet. “But she stood for a while and took it all in. The fact that she acknowledged that and got applause was something special.”
“Wimbledon was looking forward to her return, and she was back,” he added.
After the match, in which Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in three sets, Princess Catherine presented the trophy to the defending champion and the finalist.
A lip-reading expert has since deciphered the beloved royal’s reaction to the thunderous applause she received upon arriving at Sunday’s match.
Her outing comes a month after she joined the royal family for King Charles’ birthday celebrations on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the Trooping the Colour ceremony.
In a pre-recorded clip shared on March 22, the princess revealed her health struggles to the world, saying doctors discovered her cancer during a planned abdominal operation in January.
She said she was now in the early stages of “preventative chemotherapy treatment.”
