Laughing in the royal box, the pair looked like the hottest non-couple in town – but let’s not make a racket out of it
Leo and Kate. Fred and Ginger. Bill Nighy and Anna Wintour. History is peppered with examples of famous names that fans have wished, just wished could be real-life couples, but for various valid yet inconvenient reasons – they’re happily married to other people, their dating cap is firmly 25 years old, they don’t actually get on in real life, they’re simply too chic to ever confirm anything – will never be.
To that list we can now, tentatively, add “Catherine and Roger”. Or Kate and Fed, if you are on such terms. Last week, the Princess of Wales and the Swiss Maestro, who have been friends for a decade, filmed a video at Wimbledon to promote the work of the ball girls and boys at the tournament. They laughed, they quipped, they rallied, they… flirted? No, no, too far.
And, yesterday, they were back together, sitting side by side in the royal box on Centre Court, where Federer was being honoured by his loyal flock. She wore a light green and ivory Balmain jacket, like a beautiful cauliflower. He wore a superb taupe double-breasted suit – the kind of shade the Prince of Wales only dares choose if he’s within two hectares of an African elephant.
To the other side of Federer was Mirka, his wife and the mother of his two sets of twins, but that’s plenty about her, thank you very much. Catherine and Roger, the hottest non-couple in town, were back on show.