The soldiers who carried the late monarch’s coffin were honored with an invitation to the prestigious tennis tournament
The pallbearers who carried Queen Elizabeth’s coffin during her funeral in September were honored with an invitation to Wimbledon.
On Saturday, 11 members of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards who acted as pallbearers for the late Queen watched the tennis tournament from seats beside the Royal Box at Centre Court.
“Alongside the Royal Box, we are also particularly proud this year to welcome and thank the team of 11 members of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards who so nobly acted as pallbearers at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II,” said journalist and presenter Clare Balding at the tournament, according to The Independent. “And to the Ensign for the escort of Her Majesty’s procession in London who carried the Queen’s company colour, the Royal Standard of the regiment, for Her Majesty’s funeral in Windsor.”
Eight of the pallbearers were previously recognized as recipients of the Royal Victorian Order for their service to Queen Elizabeth, according to the BBC.
“I can’t imagine how hard and emotionally challenging it must have been to have carried her late Majesty’s coffin just once,” Member of Parliament Tom Hunt said at the time of the funeral, per the outlet. “With billions watching, they’ve done her late Majesty and the country proud.”
ueen Elizabeth was the royal patron of the All-England Club from 1952 to 2016, a patronage that she passed to her granddaughter-in-law Kate Middleton. The Princess of Wales is a regular at the famed sporting event each year, attending last week beside tennis legend Roger Federer.
And Princess Kate is not the only member of the royal family known to attend the tennis tournament: Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and Meghan Markle are among those who have watched from the Royal Box in previous years.
Kate is even passing her love of the sport down to the next generation. In July 2022, Kate and Prince William flanked their son Prince George as the young royal made his Wimbledon debut.
Princess Kate recently hit on the iconic courts herself with Federer. In a video shared on June 25 ahead of Wimbledon, she meets the athlete on the court and talks to him before playing a doubles game.
“Shall we play some tennis?” he asks her, to which she responds, “Yes, please.”
The pair then play a few sets, before watching the ball boys and girls do a ball change.
At the end of the video, Kate says, “To see the training and the dedication and the amount of time that is put into the training and making sure this goes well on the day for the champions who are playing at Wimbledon…Yeah, it’s incredible to see it behind the scenes.”