Kate congratulates Arthur Fery after historic Wimbledon semi-final run

Kate handed Arthur Fery a birthday card at Wimbledon after the British wild card’s run to the semi-finals, then listened as he invited Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play tennis with him. The Princess of Wales, joined by Prince William, met Fery at the All England Club before the men’s singles final on Sunday, July 12, 2026, and wished him a happy birthday on the day he turned 24.

The exchange capped one of Wimbledon’s most surprising storylines. Fery entered the tournament ranked world No. 114 and became the first British wild card in 25 years to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals. He also became the first British wildcard to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in the Open era, a breakthrough that ended with a quarter-final victory over ninth seed Flavio Cobolli.

Fery’s rise carried a strong college tennis pedigree. He spent three years at Stanford University, where he was a two-time All-American, and his run to the last four made him the first former Stanford player to reach Wimbledon’s semi-finals since John McEnroe in 1992. Stanford coach Paul Goldstein flew in and watched him in the quarter-finals, underlining how closely the program has tracked his progress.

The royal appearance added another highly visible Wimbledon moment for the family, with George and Charlotte alongside their parents in a setting that blends sport, ceremony and public familiarity. The casual birthday exchange, the card from Kate and Fery’s invitation to the children were all small gestures, but they placed the royals in direct view of a crowd and television audience while aligning them with a rising British player at the peak of his breakthrough week.

For Wimbledon, the scene reinforced how the tournament remains one of the clearest stages for the monarchy to project ease and relevance without a formal address. For Fery, it was a birthday meeting to match a tournament run that had already rewritten several records and put a Stanford-trained British player into the sport’s most exclusive weekend.