Special meaning behind Kate Middleton's Wimbledon bow

Kate Middleton was given a standing ovation as she returned to Centre Court for the Ladies' Singles Wimbledon Final on Saturday.

The Princess of Wales' emotional arrival into the Royal Box comes after she has scaled back her public appearances since revealing her cancer diagnosis last year.

Kate looked radiant as she made her entrance, dressed in a chic yellow dress with a pleated skirt and belted waist. Eagle-eyed fans will have noticed a stand-out bow accessory pinned to Kate's dress. Prince William's wife has been seen wearing the small dark green and purple bow attached below her shoulder at the sporting event in previous years.

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But fans may not know the special reason for the fashion statement.

Kate is the patron of the AELTC, which conducts the day-to-day operations of The Championships and has been since 2016. The club made green and purple the official colours back in 1909. Kate first made the sartorial show of support in 2017 and has worn the same garment to the sporting event ever since.

The princess, who is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, attended the final of the Women's competition where Iga Swiatek beat Amanda Asiminova 6-0, 6-0.

Other VIPs lucky enough to get a seat in the royal box included former long-distance runner Mo Farah and former US world tennis No1 Billie Jean King.

Kate later presented the trophy to Swiatek. She also had some kind words for Anisimova who burst into tears after the match.

Anisimova was the first women’s singles finalist not to win a game for more than a century, going back to 1911.

Revealing details of her conversation with Kate, she said after the trophy ceremony: "It was such an honour to meet her,” Anisimova said. “I wasn’t sure if she was going to come out today, if she was going be there, so it was just really nice to see her. She definitely had a few things to say that were making me emotional again! But she was really kind, and she told me to keep my head high.

“I don’t really want to reveal everything she said to me, but I also spoke to her again after the match, because I passed by her, and she had all the best to say to me. So I guess it was a positive of today, and I can try and focus on that and not the match.”

Kate returned to public duties on July 2 with a visit to a hospital's well-being garden, where she spoke candidly about her cancer recovery. She said, "You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment, treatments done, then it's like, "I can crack on, get back to normal,' but actually the phase afterwards is really, really difficult."

The visit marked her first appearance since missing Royal Ascot on June 18.