Kensington Palace announced towards the end of the day that the Duchess of Cambridge hosted a meeting with British Tennis, Wimbledon, Coach Core and Scottish tennis coach Judy Murray. The discussion was focused on children’s tennis and facilitating access to the game at a grassroots level, per the Palace’s tweet.

Given Kate’s known love of tennis and her patronage of  the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and The Lawn Tennis Association, this may well have been an enjoyable royal duty for her(!) Regardless, it’s unsurprising that meetings like this are taking place right about now, before the weather turns and well ahead of Wimbledon. Frankly, this also gives me hope that we’ll get at least one sighting of Kate at Wimbledon this year, despite maternity leave.

The last time that KP shared a photo like this was back in November when Kate had just resumed engagements following her third bout of HG. That meeting announced her interest in maternal mental health, a new issue area for her, while this one is a little more run-of-the-mill. I like this, though, because it helps illustrate the substantive work that goes on behind-the-scenes. I think there are many who presume when Kate isn’t being photographed at a school or hospital, she’s relaxing, but in fact there is considerable planning that goes into patronizing these organizations and but one aspect of it is turning up for public appearances.

So, yes, it’s great to remind everyone meetings like this take place, but I also like that it shows how members of the Royal Family also serve as conveners in this charitable space. It’s an issue that the Countess of Wessex has spoken about candidly before, noting that the way in which the royals are most effective in their work is being able to bring the right people to the table in a way.

As for what Kate’s wearing, at first glance, I thought it might be the white Alexander McQueen dress from Stockholm, but after a closer look I think it might be some sort of cream cardigan or jacket. A preliminary ID (thanks, Twitter) is that it’s her cream GOAT coat that she recycled back in November.

We’ll next see HRH on Saturday for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, but prepare yourselves, because rumor is that it will be her last engagement before going on maternity leave. That hasn’t been confirmed, but that’s been my guess for a while and it was echoed by one royal photographer yesterday during the Commonwealth Day service who overheard chatter about it. While it’ll be disappointing to have Kate disappear from view again, it’ll be well worth it when the new royal baby makes an appearance in a few short weeks 🙂