The Drunken Wimbledon Rumor You Likely Forgot About Kate Middleton

Catherine, Princess of Wales, is known for being impeccably poised at all times so it's shocking to learn that she was once accused of being so wasted at Wimbledon that it supposedly threw one of the players off his game. A YouGov poll from April 2024 confirmed that Prince William's beloved wife is the most popular female royal among Britons by a wide margin, with a whopping 76% of respondents holding a positive opinion of her (poor Meghan Markle received just 26% in comparison). Kate Middleton's timeless style is one of the biggest reasons she has so many fans worldwide, adding to her chic, effortlessly polished reputation but her staunch dedication to being a good wife and mother clearly registers with people of all different cultural backgrounds too.

During a visit to Mitchell Brook Primary School, in 2017, Kate shared, "My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realize how central values like these have been to me throughout my life. That is why William and I want to teach our little children, George and Charlotte, just how important these things are as they grow up. In my view it is just as important as excelling at maths or sport," (via People). The fact that she's technically a commoner too, having met her future husband in college, no doubt endears Kate to millions too. But, did her relatively normal upbringing lead the Princess of Wales to behave less than royally at Wimbledon?

In 2022, famously outspoken Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios complained midway through his finals match with Novak Djokovic that he couldn't concentrate because of a drunk woman in the front row who kept shouting out. In a video shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the pro athlete angrily implored the umpire to kick out the unidentified fan, demanding to know why she was still present considering, as Kyrgios argued, "She's drunk out of her mind!" When the umpire reasoned that he wasn't sure who the Aussie was referring to, he memorably described the lady in question as someone with "dots" on her dress "that looks like she's had about 700 drinks, bro!"

Per the Daily Mail, a wild conspiracy theory quickly erupted online that none other than Kate Middleton, the then-Duchess of Cambridge, was the offending woman because she was wearing a polka dot dress at the event. The fact that Kyrgios wouldn't name her seemed to solidify this idea. It was later revealed to be Polish lawyer Ania Palus, who was dressed similarly (despite claims that Kate was the only one in polka dots that day) and clarified that she wasn't drunk at all. Naturally, if the beloved royal had been causing trouble at Wimbledon, it would've been headline news. 

Kyrgios ultimately lost the match, leading one commenter on X to quip, "I doubt Kate could do anything to hurt his game. Excuses excuses [...] for not keeping his head in the game."

The Prince and Princess of Wales gamely pulled pints during a royal visit to Belfast in 2019, while a Nottingham brewery named a new strain of beer after her in 2011, but Kate Middleton generally isn't known as a big drinker. In fact, even while describing their new tipple to The Nottingham Post, head brewer Adrian Redgrove noted that "Kiss Me Kate" was "elegant, tasteful and British to the core," reiterating the public's perception of her (via People). Evidently, the quickly disproven rumor surrounding Kate's intoxicated behavior at Wimbledon 2022 did nothing to dent the princess's reputation at the event either, since she returned in 2024 to a hugely positive response.

The beloved royal was in the midst of cancer treatment at the time, with Kate announcing her diagnosis in a heartbreaking video in March. The Princess of Wales looked stunning in a purple dress, which notably meant more than you probably realized, at the men's singles final match, where the audience applauded her, leading a clearly moved Kate to wave and smile in response. Lip reader Jeremy Freeman affirmed to The Sun that she also greeted everybody with a "hi" before describing the gesture as "so sweet" to her seatmate. 

Wimbledon notably marked her first public outing in more than a month, so it was clearly a special day all round. Princess Charlotte, meanwhile, donned a polka dot dress for the event, so if her mother did know there was ever speculation about her causing a drunken scene there, it clearly didn't bother her.