On Friday, Prince William played his annual (annual-ish) charity polo match in Windsor. William stopped playing polo for a few years during the pandemic, and one of my pet theories is that William believed his brother had given up polo, which is why William stopped playing at the time. When Harry started playing polo again in California, suddenly William was back to playing as well. The big news from Friday’s polo game was that William’s wife didn’t come out to cheer him on or present a trophy. She skipped it last year as well.
Prince William hit the polo field solo on Friday as Kate Middleton continues to ease back into public duties following her cancer treatment. The Prince of Wales, 43, competed in the annual Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club on July 11, one of his favorite summer traditions. Sporting a blue jersey with the number 4, William took the field on horseback against the scenic backdrop of Windsor Castle.
While Kate, 43, did not attend, her absence reflects the careful pace she is taking as she resumes royal life after revealing last month that the post-treatment phase of her cancer recovery has been “very difficult.”
“She’s being sensible, listening to what her body is telling her and easing back into public life,” Queen Elizabeth’s former spokeswoman Ailsa Anderson told PEOPLE in a recent cover story.
Although Princess Kate missed the event, Prince William did have a familiar face in the crowd to support him: his cousin Peter Phillips, who attended with his girlfriend, Harriet Sperling.
Despite Kate’s absence, the couple’s shared charitable mission remained front and center. Proceeds from the event benefit 10 causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, including Child Bereavement UK, the Anna Freud Centre, We Are Farming Minds, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and more. According to Kensington Palace, this year’s match brought the total raised since its inception to over $18 million.
I think this was a rare moment when William and Kate were in agreement – William didn’t want her there, and she didn’t want to go. She had already done events around the Macrons’ state visit, and she clearly already planned to attend the Wimbledon championship weekend, so why would she stand out in the heat watching her husband muck about with horses? William was much more at ease without Kate there, as we’ve seen many times before. It actually reminded me of the now forgotten storyline being pushed by Kensington Palace in the fall of 2023, which is that William and Kate were barely going to do events together anymore and he was going to start behaving more like a hot single father. Speaking of, the Kensington Palace team put together another fan-cam for Willy:
Raising money for some incredible charities 🐎 pic.twitter.com/KSQLvpqiYK
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) July 11, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- The Prince of Wales takes part in the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup 2025, which raises money for causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Great Park Featuring: Prince William Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 11 Jul 2025 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales holds the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup 2025, which raises money for causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, after taking part in the event at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Great Park Featuring: Prince William Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 11 Jul 2025 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales (second right) holds the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup 2025, which raises money for causes supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, after taking part in the event at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Great Park Featuring: Prince William Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 11 Jul 2025 Credit: Aaron Chown/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales taking part in the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup 2025 at Guards Polo Club Featuring: Prince William Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 11 Jul 2025 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales taking part in the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup 2025 at Guards Polo Club Featuring: Prince William Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 11 Jul 2025 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
She was saving her precious strength for Wimbledon!
Tennis is easy, polo is hard! 😂
She wouldn’t be applauded at the polo so tennis was the right choice for her.
These two are such jokes – they watch and play sports and think it’s “work.”
“She’s being sensible, listening to what her body is telling her and easing back into public life,”
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Lol what a crock of shit. Funny how her body is not averse to taking vacations, shopping and a grueling exercise routine.
She has enough sttength for vacations and going skiing. No trouble easing into vacations.
Pretty much what I said
Can’t is a lying liar that continues to lie or have lies told for her.
It’s soooooo hard to appear at a state dinner and at Wimbledon. Ascot was oh so difficult, same with the polo. Must not tire one’s self surrounded by horses.
@Caitlin
Until someone does something about it, she’ll be living with this “cancer” for years. I’m waiting for someone to finally get angry, even anonymously, like someone from the medical staff who stitched her head up, to stop taking this nonsense that insults all the truly sick, and to reveal that Kate doesn’t have and never had any cancer, or “pre-cancer.” Otherwise, this will never end.
Hear, hear!
It didn’t have anything to do with past “illness “. He didn’t want her there!
I have no issue with Kate skipping this. Being in the heat as a cancer survivor is torture.
So instead she spent the day at Wimbledon. Torture, indeed.
😭😭 People are like, “she is such a fragile little girl”, while she is skiing multiple times this year and going beach vacations, looking at her tan.
@Sun: Well yes but she’s not patron of the William’s polo match. The women’s and men’s finals are now being played at 4 pm instead of 1pm so it will be more comfortable for her. She can leave the matches when the heat gets unbearable.
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm because she goes out into the sun/heat all the time. Wimbledon last year and this year, vacations, her back yard (probably, as she looks very tan).
I’m quite sure they could have arranged for some shade (even with cooling fans) for her at the polo match.
@Sussexwatcher: No sarcasm here. I just think it’s a lot harder for Kate to miss Wimbledon than this polo match.
How is it harder for her to miss Wimbledon than her missing polo when she rarely ever goes to the women’s matches, even prior to her claiming to have had cancer? Her being patron has never mattered enough to her that she made a point of attending other matches in the past. Wimbledon lasts for two weeks yet she’s usually only seen at the most twice and it’s normally only for the men’s matches. How is that taking her role as patron to Wimbledon seriously when she gives it a fraction of the attention it deserves and most if not all of the attention she does give is only for the men’s matches?
But, Amy, being at Wimbledon is literally sitting in the heat. There was probably more chance at a polo game for shade or to get cool than the tennis match. I agree with others that the cancer story doesn’t add up as cancer patients are photosensitive and are supposed to avoid the sun. Not flock to outdoor tennis matches with no shade, or tropical vacations, or spend time in the sun (or whatever Keen said about it).
The issue for me is that it comes across as a lie that heat post cancer is the reason she didn’t attend this or Ascot when she spent all of cancer outside in direct sunlight and heat with not a concern about going against medical advice about avoiding sunlight. Then for her to suddenly claim that heat and sun is an issue for her after the fact for certain things but never the things we all know she refuses not to go to. This has nothing to do with cancer she supposedly had or hear. This is just Kate doing what she wants to do and using cancer as a never ending excuse to do it. Otherwise going skiing or a beach wouldn’t be things she could do during or after cancer or chemo. Neither would she be able to conveniently schedule hours or days in advance, events that we all know she was going to even without her making them public. She didn’t have an issue with planning vacations that require outdoor activities or riding in a carriage for Trooping or the State visit. No concerns with being in the heat for the outdoor robe ceremony which she wasn’t even expected to be at or her going to Wimbledon two days in a row in the heat with no idea how long she might be there in direct sunlight. Her actions contradict this claim that this is about cancer or about heat.
Well I don’t believe for a minute that she is a cancer survivor so the heat excuse with cancer doesn’t cut it for me. She is lazy and only wants to do what she wants period.
She’s no cancer survivor and Wimbledon wouldn’t have changed the time from 1:00 to 4:00 simply to accommodate poor sick, fragile Kate. I checked her arms carefully and there’s no sign of a port having been there, she would have had a noticeable scar. I have cancer, I have a port, I am very sun and heat-sensitive so all these obviously false stories make me so angry. She shows none of the side-effects of chemo (“It’s healthy to be out in the sun” I recall her saying.)
Kate doing the polo, Macron welcome and dinner, and men’s and women’s tennis all within the span of a week would probably have set a precedent she didn’t want to have to live up to. Like, if she can do all that, why can’t she take the helicopter once or twice a week to visit a humbler charity?
Anyway, despite her “heavy” workload this week, it was fun stuff like tennis and carriage rides and the tiara event. No cutting ribbons for our Kate. Guess planting the Kate rose last week was supposed to be her mixing with the plebs.
And whatever happened to the cash-for-access scandal around this polo event, where one of the main charities was promising a private meeting with Kate and William in return for a big donation? That’s a big claim she was making, so was there a hint of truth or was she just massively lying?
Girlfriend isn’t spreading herself thin, after today she’s on her long vacation until mid September !!
Yup, August will definitely be her “bad month.” 😏
Willy leaks always looks pinched like he is pulling in his a cheeks when he is standing. He is so weird
That photo of him stand alone made me zoom in because he looks as if he’s clinching his butt cheeks for dear life 😂.
He certainly does not come across as comfortable in his own skin at all..
Harry looks so much hotter in polo whites, that’s all I have to say.
Pretty much. Willy will never get the best people around him, because he’s not the best.
Did he have any female friends cheering him on or perhaps Jason had to mop his brow?
Kate needs to stop the she’s so frail spin
It probably annoys William and c and c.
It’s a good excuse to not appear in public.
She should just give up her taxpayer funding. Quid pro quo.
She can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time, or at least if she wants to fool people she shouldn’t go on two skiing holidays at the beginning of the year.
Okay, so here’s a theory: i think she got treatment for her mental health, and that’s why she is “easing in.” I think her post treatment has been difficult because it involves returning to triggers that caused a breakdown. Those triggers could be related to worry over her clothes, which is why she’s repeating so much. One of her triggers could also be William’s attitude. Hence her not going to certain events with him. Maybe they don’t Kate’s attendance until day of sometimes because it depends on Willy’s temper and whether she can handle it?
Just a wild theory, but all the pick and choose in events gives me the vibe that Kate’s recovery may be mental health related and about her trying to find ways to avoid another breakdown. It makes more sense than struggling so badly with post treatment for cancer or any other physical illness.
Kate was always easing in since 2011. She had to start slow with duties from the get go . One reason. She was still on honeymoon and had to research charities . It’s not as if she had a work ethic to ease up from.
William does not want her with him. Not her call.
I think that’s part of it but I absolutely think William went off the deep end during a fight and let’s just say that some kind of DV ensued, hence the new scar on her brow. It probably triggered a mental health breakdown and scared them both. Look at his behaviour post-Kate’s disappearance. Charles and Cam appear to barely tolerate the both of them. The Wails are clearly leading separate lives but have to stay in a forced marriage for the optics.
William shows no great change in personality. He is bent on removing Sussex titles.
Kate has been doing this from the outset so if mental health is the reason, and it likely is, she’s been dealing with it from the beginning. And some of the issues definitely manifest themselves in her need to control things, hence her extreme thinness after all pregnancies.
The good days and bad days lingo is exactly how my relative with bipolar disorder described things. Because mental health issues are unpredictable, far more than an objective illness with a treatment plan.
The only thing is at this point I don’t know that I think they are getting ready together in the same place. So the idea that they annoy each other that morning or the night before over the kitchen table or something just doesn’t fly. They have enough houses and big houses with separate spaces that they can avoid each other. Bc I also don’t think they’re living at AC together. That said, they probably do have to coordinate things about the kids to some degree and go to kids events together and that may exacerbate things. And I don’t believe any woman marrying into that family can escape MH problems to some degree. Add in a weird and insecure need to swf other women and it’s a recipe for disaster. As always, wish the best to the Wales kids.
He always looks so awkward to me. He’s devoid of charisma. 🤷♀️
I guess they’ve finally settled in to the plan they disclosed to the media in 2023 ….. separate events, no international travel for Kate. Took a few years to execute but they can now breathe a sigh of relief 😔. I think for the public, it’s been a tiring 2 years of lies, obfuscation and numerous shenanigans to sabotage the Sussexes, for them to finally get to this point. 😣
I’ve never seen such an utterly rizz-less polo team than Willy’s & the lads there. Nary a Nacho in the whole group.
“forgotten storyline being pushed by Kensington Palace in the fall of 2023, which is that William and Kate were barely going to do events together anymore”
Well I pretty much forgot this too. That certainly is interesting key point in the lead up to whatever went down in Dec 2023.
I think she was not going quietly. So weird they went from “barely doing events together” to that touchy-feely video. Whatever she has on him is big.
There are limits. For him That video was staged and filmed so not a private moments.
Some way to try to hold on to him if she’s allegedly got something on him.if he wants out she will be divorced
Kaiser, do you remember that after Harry left, William sold all their polo ponies. I doubt he did it with Harry’s knowledge.
When Harry started playing and promoting charity matches with Nacho Figueras (which they probably played before), there were tons of photos in the articles, William borrowed horses and also organized a charity match. When the brothers were still playing at the palace, they always had only grass photos, but now they’ve added a board just like Harry’s. Well, first he tries to destroy his brother’s organization, and then he steps in to pretend he’s him. He and Kate are personalityless stalkers.
If this were about ordinary people and not royals, they would have long ago received a court order prohibiting them from coming within 100 meters.
I am happy that PW was fundraising. Princess wasn’t needed there.
William doesn’t care about the funds. He plays polo for charity because Harry plays polo for charity. But Harry is concerned about the funds he raises for polo for Sentebale, an organization William tried to take over by stealth, and for now, everything is on hold, pending clarification. If Harry stopped organizing matches, William would stop playing too.
I don’t know where she sits or stands for each of these events, but I have to add that I am in England visiting for a few weeks, and if I had a husband who was playing polo, I would have likely stayed home as well. It was not just sunny but abnormally hot and humid on Friday, and I had to give up on a tour at Avebury on Friday because of the heat, even though we were standing under a tree and in shade most of the time. I am older, though relatively healthy, but I could not walk around outdoors on Friday, either, so I think this is a bad example for criticizing her.
On the other hand, the royal box for each event may be partially enclosed and have some cooler air blowing on the people standing or sitting there.
The rest of this week is going to be cooler, like in the 70s, so let’s criticize her for what she does in cooler weather.
She’s not doing anything now. Wimbledon is it for her, then she’s on vacation until the kids are back in school.
The royal box is smack in the sunlight closer to the where the players are and she was using a fan, along with Charlotte today.
Besides Kate is a very tan women for someone who lives in the UK. She’s outside much more than the media cares to admit.
People looked like they were fanning for their lives in that royal box.
William looks tightly clenched in every single one of these photographs despite the absence of his wife, especially in the lead photo where he is with his team mates, holding the trophy. Look at his shoulders, hips, arms, legs. CLENCHED. High state of tension from head to toe. That must be so painful to maintain on a permanent basis.
Imagine the cute and weather-appropriate ensemble Meghan would have worn if Harry was playing in the heat.
Of course, Harry is worth enduring the heat for …
I bet Jason Knauf was there! Should have had him hand out the trophy!
Why is he playing for the US polo association? Is that weird or is it just because I’ve had no coffee? I swear I’ve seen Harry and gang in the same shirts – are there no other charity teams?
OMG, what is it with their stuffie trophies?? Last time was an elephant, this time a tiger??? Where’s the Lalique, the Tiffany’s, the Hermes? Stuffies????
Willie is not sexy. I’ve come to view him as being the delicate one. So, therefore, I am surprised at his equestrian skills. He still has them.
Just out of curiosity, is there anyone with the skill to tell how good William is at polo?
Prince Philip – handicap of five.
Nacho Figueras is a six.
At his best, Prince Charles – four.
Harry & William – both have a handicap of two.
10 is the highest.