Kate, William, Beckham, McIlroy and Stan Smith Lead Wimbledon Royal Box Highlights

When the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club calls for a “jacket and club tie,” Wimbledon’s Royal Box guests know the assignment — including Hollywood star Dustin Hoffman.

Bearing her trademark no-fuss elegance, and looking imperviously at home in her go-to ice blue, Queen Camilla arrived in Wimbledon’s Royal Box on Centre Court on July 8, with her sister Annabel Elliot. The Queen – pictured top seated in front of actress Elle Fanning – was there to watch the women’s singles quarterfinal, in which Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk handily dispatched Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

But, hold on a second! Who’s this insouciant fellow stripped down to his “business-casual” single-cuff shirtsleeves behind the Queen? How dare he? Asked another way, is there a British man alive who would remove his jacket one row behind the Queen in the Wimbledon Royal Box? Answer: No! The All-England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Association has decreed jacket-and-tie at all times since time immemorial, period, – “thank you very much, indeed,” as the British say when they’re trying to brush someone off.

Ergo: This shockingly – shockingly – jacket-less interloper, luxuriating in his own comfort inches from the Queen, can by definition only be 1) an Australian, 2) Kiwi, 3) American, or perhaps, 4) “a Continental.” But the Europeans and the members of the Commonwealth usually mind their dress at Wimbledon! In fact, this is a protocol-smashing American, in the form of Rolling Stone magazine scion Gus Wenner, looking every bit Wall-Street-Semi-Casual-Friday, circa 1996. The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club directors do not like or want (or permit) any piece of that anywhere near the monarchs. Yet here we are.

Now at executive of his own investment vehicle, the otherwise wholly respectable Wenner has, also, dated fellow American Fanning for the last two years, much to the delight of the running dogs of the English press who chase that sort of thing. In keeping with his own alt-press heritage, however, Mr. Wenner does seem a club-able Rebel, Rebel – to mangle David Bowie, an artist featured often on the cover of the publication founded by Mr. Wenner’s father, Jann, back in the wild and woolly heyday of 1960s San Francisco.

If young Gus could be persuaded to put the jacket back on, twisting around in his seat on the down-low, his girlfriend’s chances at another Royal Box invitation in future years, should she find herself filming or playing in something in Britain, would improve. But at the moment, the box has been ticked and surely registered. Boyfriends, what can an ingenue do? Surely he had the thing when he walked in, otherwise, no go in the Royal Box, baby.

Things could get worse. Neither of these Americans hail from the deep South, where more rigorously delineated forms of address are still in currency, and both lovebirds seem as if they might have only ever heard the word “ma’am” used by actors in a period drama, much less having employed it themselves when not reading from a script. Fortunately for them, the tennis seems to be wholly absorbing the Queen, not her neighbors. One certainty remains: Had the Queen addressed them, a Royal Box usher would have been there in a nano-second to advise the man to don the jacket.

In stark contrast to men who may not have fully absorbed the fine print on disrobing in the Wimbledon Royal Box, pictured above, here’s the recently knighted Sir David Beckham, impeccably done in a fine worsted peak-lapel double-breasted, with nary a button save that last, properly-unbuttoned lower right jacket button undone. His bright summery pocket square is his personal air conditioning. He’s escorting his mother Sandra as per his habit, Sandra Beckham being a solid tennis fan.

Pictured above in his semifinal match on July 10, finalist Alexander Zverev serves to England’s breakout star Arthur Fery in the process of setting up Sunday’s men’s final against Jannik Sinner. Possibly the most entertaining British wildcard in the last century or so of Wimbledon, Arthur “Cross Channel” Féry – recently so nicknamed by Fleet Street because of his dual French/British nationality – has grittily fought his way into the semifinals and along the way has become the runaway crowd favorite. He’s a shot-snagger, agile, all over the court, and his French professional tennis-player mom just happens to live a couple of miles from Wimbledon, where he grew up and attended King’s College School. Currently, thanks to his breakout run during this Wimbledon, Féry is the No. 1 ranked British player (with two stellar French coaches). None other than the Queen dropped through the players’ ready-room en route into the Royal Box on July 8, tapping young Féry on the shoulder for a word.

According to the reports – which is to say, this is the microscopic level of the Fleet Street reporting on him now – his “British childhood” and schooling enabled him to deliver the proper “Yes, ma’am.” He’s confessed to that highly attentive press that, during the tournament, he has returned home, and his mom cooks for him each night, when, to “get away from the tennis a bit,” he’s been working his way through Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather cycle.

Despite Féry’s rather complete Center Court semifinal loss to Germany’s razor-sharp Alexander Zverev on July 10, the ebullient, undeterred newcomer’s popularity is such that Wimbledon’s famous Henman Hill, a point from which one can see the Centre Court action, was packed with his fans on Friday.