Queen Camilla joined by sister for surprise visit to Wimbledon

The Queen has made a surprise visit to Wimbledon with her sister Annabel Elliott on day 10 of the Championships.

Camilla arrived at the All England Club on Wednesday morning and entered the players’ area, located next to Centre Court, wearing a turquoise chiffon dress by designer Anna Valentine.

She met a line up of Wimbledon staff, players, and local workers, including former British number one Heather Watson, 34, who said it was “lovely” to meet Camilla.

Watson said of the Queen: “She’s super down-to-earth.”

“I started sweating profusely with nerves. She asked me about Wimbledon and my career.”

Watson said the royal took an interest in her career, adding: “She was lovely.”

The tennis star then spoke with Ms Elliot, who told Watson that “they’d been coming to Wimbledon since they were very young”.

Watson added: “I met the previous Queen, I think it was over 10 years ago now, in exactly the same sort of place with Laura (Robson).”

Camilla also spoke with ball boy Zebedee, who studies at Saint Cecilia’s Church of England School, and Aniya, who studies at The Tiffin’s Girl School.

Zebedee said the experience was “very special”, and Aniya said: “It was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely an opportunity of a lifetime.”

The royal asked the youngsters how long they had been ball girls and boys for, and what courts they had worked on.

The Queen also spoke with Richard Gammage, who is chief executive of City Harvest, a charity combating food waste.

Mr Gammage said: “It was lovely to meet Her Majesty.”

Asked what they discussed, he said: “We talked about what we do and how we do it, she was really interested in all of that.

“I had the great privilege of meeting her about 15 years ago when she was becoming involved with the Royal Air Force Station, and she remembered that, which was lovely.”

He added: “She was interested in what we do with the food ad what sort of groups the food goes to, because we do everything from women’s refugees to day centres for people who are rough sleeping, youth groups, school groups, church groups, a variety of denominations.”

Also in the line up was Morag Ranford, who had worked in Wimbledon’s press operations team for 50 years, and Pete Dobson, a longstanding safety officer who has worked at the tournament for 25 years.

The Queen is among a host of famous faces due to take a seat in the royal box on Centre Court on Wednesday.

She joins American actress Elle Fanning, adventurer Bear Grylls, and British actor Sir David Suchet, among others.