The Duke of Kent’s Daughter Lady Helen Taylor Attends the Wimbledon 2026 Women’s Semifinals

2 min read

Lady Helen Taylor was in the Royal Box at Wimbledon on Thursday for the semifinals. The daughter of the Duke of Kent is one of the more familiar royal faces at the All England Club, and her attendance carries a particular family significance: Her father served as royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for decades before Kate Middleton officially took over the role in 2016. The Princess of Wales now hands out the winners’ trophies each year at the conclusion of the tournament, but the Duke still attends regularly as well, as he did on the first day of the Grand Slam last week.

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Lady Helen Taylor arriving at the club.

Royals and Wimbledon go together, ACE: The Times & Style of Tennis author Sunita Kumar Nair told T&C, like “strawberries and cream.” For her book, she interviewed Lady Helen. “She knew that her parents were proper and that they had to conduct the ceremonies of Wimbledon,” she said. “Then there’s this very sweet story of her [unwrapping] sweets in her mouth without distracting the players. It was such a rarefied world; when she speaks about the Royal Box then and what it is now, it’s changed so much. It really was the Royal Box. It was for the Royal family to sit and watch—now it’s very different.”

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Lady Helen with All England Club chairwoman and former British tennis pro Deborah Jevans.

Lady Helen dressed for London’s ongoing summer heat wave in practical light cotton, with a chocolate brown, cap-sleeve John Lewis top and a khaki midi skirt, paired with brown leather sandals from Clarks. She also carried a raffia stripe tote from Anya Hindmarch, and wore Ray-Ban round Wayfarer sunglasses, a fitting choice for a bright afternoon at the club.

The Royal Box drew a strong celebrity contingent as American Coco Gauff faced Karolína Muchová of Czechia for the first semifinal of the day. Downton Abbey’s Lily James arrived in a polka dot maxi dress with black sandals and sunglasses, and was seated near Wicked star and recent MBE recipient Cynthia Erivo in a baby pink suit. Also in the box was Priyanka Chopra, who dressed for the warm weather in a light linen button down ensemble with a matching headscarf.

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Lily James, Priyanka Chopra, and Cynthia Erivo in the Royal Box.

It has been a busy week in the Royal Box. Queen Camilla attended Wednesday’s quarterfinals alongside her sister, Annabel Elliot, and was spotted chatting with Peter Phillips and his new wife, Harriet Sperling. The Duchess of Gloucester has made two appearances throughout the fortnight. And while the Princess of Wales made a surprise visit earlier in the tournament, she didn’t sit in the Royal Box, instead taking in the tennis on side courts. She is expected to return this weekend for the finals to present the trophies to the winners and finalists.

Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.