British wildcard Arthur Fery invited Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play tennis with him when he spoke to the royals as they attended Wimbledon for the men’s singles final.
The Prince and Princess of Wales congratulated the tennis player – who turns 24 today – on his run to the semi-finals and wished him a happy birthday.
William, Kate, George and Charlotte arrived at the All England Club shortly after 3pm on Sunday and greeted a line-up of guests.
Kate, who wore an olive green midi-dress, greeted Fery by handing him a birthday card and saying: “This is for you, happy birthday.”
The princess then introduced the tennis player to George and Charlotte, who both shook his hand.
In their conversation, Fery told the princess that he had not played on Centre Court before the tournament, describing the experience as “really special”.
He could be overheard telling Kate “I hear your children play tennis”, before inviting them to “hit some balls”.
Speaking after the interaction, Fery said: “I mean the princess came to my match in the second round, it was great to have her there and we spoke a little about that.
“It was good to see her here and good to meet her finally. She wished me good luck for the rest of the year and congratulated me for these two weeks.
“I know the whole family are all tennis fans, so I told her if her kids ever wanted to hit, I’m free. It would be good to see them again.”
Asked whether he thinks she will take him up on the offer, Fery said: “Let’s see, I don’t know. Let’s see if I get the call up.”
During their conversation Fery told Kate that he is “ready to relax” for a bit.
“Next week’s going to be nice, I’m going on holiday, I’ll be able to relax a little bit and process everything,” he told her.
William congratulated Fery as he greeted him and wished him a happy birthday.
He then said: “What a tournament.”
Also in the line-up were Ethan Langley and Martha Pearce, who work as court services attendants.
Ethan said that during his conversation with William, the prince said he was “thankful” the tournament had had such good weather.
“(William) was just really thankful for having such a good champs and really, really good weather, and he expects it to keep going on like this for the next couple of years,” he said.
“He said it was pretty uncommon, and we haven’t had it like this before and that I think he just expects more of the same things for years to come to us.”
Martha said William had said it was “great” that it had been so warm, before asking her whether she thought it will be more or less rainy next year.
The royals received a standing ovation as they entered the Royal Box on Sunday.
Kate waved to the crowd before taking her seat on the front row.
Kate, who is patron of the All England Club, will present the trophy to the winner at the end of the match.
Lord Frederick Windsor, his wife Sophie Winkleman, and Lady Gabriella Kingston, are among the other members of the royal family taking a seat at Centre Court this afternoon.
They join Australian actress Nicole Kidman, American actor Rami Malek, British singer Raye, and former world number one Stan Smith.
Last year, Kate presented the trophy to Sinner, who became the first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles title, after giving the runner’s up prize to Carlos Alcaraz.