
Kate Middleton may be known for her poise and elegance — especially when seated in the royal box at Wimbledon — but even she isn’t immune to the occasional cringe-worthy family moment.
In a throwback interview featured in Sue Barker’s 2017 BBC documentary Our Wimbledon, the Princess of Wales opened up about one particularly awkward encounter involving her father, Michael Middleton, and a case of mistaken tennis identity that left her red-faced.

Sue Barker, a longtime fixture of Wimbledon broadcasting, recalled visiting Kensington Palace to interview Kate for the documentary. “She was so lovely to talk to,” Barker wrote later, adding that the Princess had tried to put the crew at ease by saying she was nervous — though Barker suspects it was just to be kind. “She was a natural in front of the camera, and what came across was her deep love of the game from an early age.”
Kate fondly spoke about how tennis had always been a “family passion” in the Middleton household. The family often queued up for tickets to Wimbledon during the summer, well before Kate became a member of the Royal Family.
But one year, things didn’t go quite as smoothly.
“We were walking past Tim Henman,” Kate recalled, “and we had just watched Pete Sampras play. My dad, trying to be very cool, nodded and said, ‘Hi Pete’—to Tim Henman!” She laughed, adding, “I was mortified!”
Even royals, it seems, have to survive those classic dad moments.