Queen Camilla enjoys surprise ‘escape’ to Wimbledon

The Queen has made a surprise visit to Wimbledon, saying it was “so nice to be able to escape for a day”.

Camilla headed to south-west London to enjoy watching play on the 10th day of the tennis championships.

She was dressed for her day out at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in a cream linen dress featuring large giraffe motifs by Anna Valentine, with a Jack Russell brooch from Van Cleef and Arpels.

Camilla told former player Laura Robson, who works in international player relations at Wimbledon, it was “so nice to be able to escape for a day”.

She praised head gardener Martyn Falconer, who has worked at Wimbledon for 25 years and cares for all the plants around the grounds.

“It all looks fantastic. It always looks absolutely perfect,” she told him.

She also met another Camila – the daughter of Mexican doubles player Santiago Gonzalez – after the youngster boldly introduced herself to the royal guest.

The Queen said “fancy having two Camillas here” and asked if she would like a picture together, and had a peek at Camila’s Wimbledon pass by holding her lanyard to read it.

She spent time chatting to ball girl Natalia, from Burntwood School in Wandsworth, and ball boy Yug, from Harris Academy Wimbledon, asking them which courts they worked on and how much they had been enjoying the experience.

Camilla was introduced to the welcome line-up by Deborah Jevans, chairwoman of the All England club, before heading to the royal box on Centre Court.

Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, actors Richard E Grant and Sir David Suchet, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, former Conservative Party leader Lord Hague, and the King’s nephew Peter Phillips, accompanied by girlfriend Harriet Sperling, were among the well-known faces at the championships on Wednesday.

Camilla, who was joined by her sister Annabel Elliot, was watching former Wimbledon singles champion Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstani, face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarter-final.

The Queen will miss Australia’s Alex De Minaur in his quarter-final clash against Novak Djokovic, after De Minaur was forced to withdraw with a hip injury.

She has been seen in her giraffe dress before.

She wore the outfit, which features large embroidered images of the animals on the skirt, during an official tour to Kenya last November.