THE Duchess of Kent has turned down an invitation to
present medals to previous Wimbledon winners at a
special ceremony next week, it was disclosed yesterday.
The Duchess is a regular attender at Wimbledon and has
presented the women's trophies for 30 years. The snub
has fuelled speculation that she is still angry with the
event's organisers after a row last year when officials
refused to allow the son of the murdered headmaster
Philip Lawrence to sit with her in the royal box.
John Curry, the former chairman of the All England Lawn
Tennis and Croquet Club, had written to the Duchess
reminding her of guidelines about bringing children to the
royal box. He said that children were not invited as they
took up space and prevented other worthy people from
attending.
In the end an accident prevented Lucien and his mother,
Frances, from attending anyway. Mr Curry later
apologised for upsetting the Duchess, whose husband is
president of the All England Club.
The Duchess was said to be deeply upset by the fact that
Lucien, whose father was stabbed to death outside his
school in Maida Vale in 1995, was barred from the event.
Although Mr Curry issued a statement which apologised
for "any unintentional hurt caused to the Duchess", he did
not apologise to her directly.
Instead the Duchess of Gloucester will present the medals
at the event, organised to mark the millennium. It will be
one of the largest gatherings of Wimbledon champions in
recent times. Sixty-five players are expected to take part
including veteran players Bunny Austin and John McEnroe
and more recent winners such as Andre Agassi and Boris
Becker.
The Wimbledon organisers yesterday denied that relations
with the Duchess of Kent were still poor. A spokesman
said: "The Duke and Duchess were asked first but they
were unable to attend because of other engagements."
He said the Duchess of Gloucester was an obvious
second choice to present the medals as she is the
honorary president of the Lawn Tennis Association. He
said that Tim Philips, the new chairman of the All England
Club, had been in contact with the Duchess. He said:
"Relations are good. Tim has been in phone contact with
the Duke and Duchess regularly and there is absolutely no
problem at all."
A spokesman for the Duchess of Kent said he did not
know about the ins and outs of the argument. He said:
"She will be going to the tennis and presenting the winner's
trophy as usual. She will not be at the champions parade
ceremony because she can't do it."
The event will take place on July 1 on Centre Court.
~*~
Duchess 'as good as wed to count'(UK times)
FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME
THE Duchess of York was yesterday dubbed "The
Queen of Tuscany" by the Italian press, which said she
now spent so much time in Italy that she was "as good as
married" to Count Gaddo della Gherardesca, her Italian
companion.
Reports said that, despite her "readmission to the world of
the Windsors" and reports of a remarriage to the Duke of
York, few people in Britain realised that she had "another
life" in Italy and was "constantly" at the count's side. At the
weekend she acted as hostess during a festival at Count
Gaddo's estate at Castagneto Carducci, in the Maremma
region of southern Tuscany.
"No one in Tuscany believes that she will remarry Prince
Andrew," La Stampa said. Referring to her as Count
Gaddo's "fiancée", it said that "the couple show the kind
of great familiarity which only comes after many years of
marriage". She, however, insisted that he was "a true
friend".