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Woman & Home
Lifestyle
Laura Harman

How did we not know Queen Camilla had a past life as a ball girl, as she jokes about it being 'one hundred years ago'

Queen Camilla's job as a ball girl has just been revealed as Her Majesty reminisced about her previous role while visiting Wimbledon

Queen Camilla's past job as a ball girl has just been revealed, and we can't believe we didn't know about the Queen's former sporty past!


On Wednesday, Queen Camilla stunned in a striped puffed-sleeve dress and daring gold choker as she made her first Wimbledon appearance since 2019. The Queen enjoyed some tennis and took time to chat with some young workers including, ball boy, Sean, 16, and two ball girls, Larissa, 15, and Cassie, 16. 

According to The Telegraph, the Queen spoke to them about their role and revealed that she herself had some first-hand experience at being a ball girl - but joked that it was more than 'one hundred years ago'. The Queen revealed, "You have to be very agile. I remember doing it one hundred years ago at Queen’s (Club). It is quite difficult."

While we knew that tennis has been one of Kate Middleton's hobbies since she was a child, we somehow missed that the Queen was such a fan! The Queen has been very vocal about her other hobbies such as reading, horse riding, and gardening, but somehow we have only just learned that she used to be a ball girl!

The Queen and her sister, Annabel Elliot, both used to work as ball girls for the Queen’s Tournament. Camilla and Annabel would have been teenagers at this time when they attended Queen's Gate as schoolgirls. The school reportedly has a long association with the tournament and many of their students become ball girls.

The Queen's sister was her companion on Wednesday and joined her at the Wimbledon Royal Box to enjoy the matches on the Center Court, suggesting that tennis is still a shared passion for the sisters.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Members of the Royal Family have made appearances at Wimbledon over the past couple of weeks, and more are expected to drop in to watch some matches as the tournament continues. Just last week, Kate Middleton took inspiration from Princess Diana for her first look at Wimbledon 2023 as she wore a pistachio-colored blazer and a pleated white skirt with white heels. 

Sadly, Prince George couldn’t join Kate Middleton for her first appearance at Wimbledon 2023 as it was still term time at Lambrook School - the primary school attended by the Wales children. However, the school has now broken up for the summer, so there is a possibility that Prince George or Princess Charlotte could join their mother, Princess Catherine for her next Wimbledon outing. 

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