Of Course Kate Middleton Aced the Wimbledon Dress Code

Nothing says British summertime quite like a day at Wimbledon—or Kate Middleton  in a polka dot dress. The Duchess of Cambridge made her first appearance at the 2022 tournament on Tuesday July 5 wearing one of her favorite Alessandra Rich tea dresses in hersignature print. 

The famously sporty royal, who is a patron of the All England Tennis Club as well as a keen player herself, arrived as Britain’s breakout star Cameron Norrie was set to face Belgium’s David Goffin in the men’s quarter-final. Britain’s hopes now rest on Norrie’s shoulders, after Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray were both knocked out in the second round. 

Kate styled her cornflower-blue belted dress—which the increasingly conscious dresser  previously wore to make a surprise appearance at a street party over the Platinum Jubilee weekend—with pearl earrings, classic tortoiseshell sunglasses and a neat white handbag. The addition of slingback stiletto heels was an unexpected choice from the avowed fan of a simple suede pump. 

The Duchess, who was joined by Prince William at SW19, has added several of Rich’s feminine, ’40s inspired midi-dresses to her wardrobe in recent years, and wore one to pose for her father-in-law Prince Charles’s 70th birthdayportraits. She’s also famously fond of cheerful polka dots: earlier this summer Kate evoked the style of the late Princess Diana in a spotty dress—again by Alessandra Rich—at Royal Ascot.