Carole Middleton and Pippa Middleton Matthews Were Once Denied Entry into the Royal Box at Wimbledon

Carole and Pippa Middleton attend Wimbledon in 2017 — (Image credit: Getty)

Carole Middleton and Pippa Middleton Matthews—the mother and sister of the Princess of Wales, respectively—may not technically be royalty, but they are certainly royal adjacent. Like Kate, Carole and Pippa are tennis aficionados and regular attendees at Wimbledon, where, as The Mirror reports, “an unfortunate incident once saw the pair denied seats in the prestigious Centre Court Royal Box.”

With Wimbledon kicking off today (expect to see Kate—who is patron of the All England Club—attend at some point), let’s go back to 2017, when Carole and Pippa were denied access to the royal box, all because of a glitch.

Carole and Pippa Middleton attend Wimbledon in 2019

“In 2017, the mother and daughter were relegated to standard seats for Andy Murray’s fourth-round tie against Benoit Paire,” the outlet reports. Why did this happen? Hello reports that the two “arrived too late for the match, and strict rules at the All England Club mean later comers cannot be admitted to the box.”

That said, Carole and Pippa didn’t seem to mind, as they “looked delighted as they watched Murray advance to that year’s quarter-finals in straight sets,” The Mirror writes.

And that’s not the only Wimbledon faux pas by the Middletons, apparently: Kate once revealed she was left “mortified” after her father, Michael, was involved in an embarrassing mix up. Kate revealed the story in a 2017 BBC documentary called “Our Wimbledon,” where she told host Sue Barker that “her dad tried to play it cool in front of the former British No. 1 tennis player Tim Henman,” The Mirror reports.

Michael and Carole Middleton at Wimbledon

“My father is not going to appreciate this, but we were walking past Tim Henman and we had just seen [Pete] Sampras play,” Kate said. “My dad said, very coolly, ‘Hi Pete.’ I was mortified!”

Kate Middleton and Prince George at Wimbledon in 2022

Last year, the world saw a sweet moment between Kate and her parents when Kate was spotted blowing a kiss in her parents’ direction, her face lighting up when she spotted them in their seats.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.