The Royal Box is reserved for members of the Royal Family and guests of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

This year, Chairman Ian Hewitt’s invitations reflect the Club’s desire to recognise people who work towards making the world a better place for everyone, providing stellar public service in all walks of life, and whose achievements are a source of inspiration, marvel and gratitude. 

On Day 1, guests with the best seat in the house to watch Novak Djokovic face Soonwoo Kwon in the presence of HRH Prince Michael of Kent included leading promoters of diversity and inclusion, and members of the medical profession who have been instrumental in the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as His Excellency Vadym Prystaiko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom. 

Oyebanji Adewumi straddles both fields in her former role as Associate Director for Inclusion, Barts Health NHS Trust, for which she was awarded an MBE for services to the NHS and diversity.

She is currently Director, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Manchester University. Also present was Morenike Ajayi, the founder of Career Nuggets, a networking hub for BME individuals seeking to advance their professional careers, and whose services to race equality and inclusion earned her an MBE this year. 

Among the distinguished medics in the dark-green Lloyd Loom chairs were vaccine scientist Dr Catherine Green, Associate Professor in Chromosome Diagnosis, Wellcome Centre, University of Oxford – a member of the Oxford team that developed the COVID-19 vaccine and was awarded an OBE for services to science and public health – and Madelaine McTernan, former Director General of the Vaccines Taskforce, who was awarded a CBE for services to the Covid-19 response.

A key part in managing the pandemic was the availability of tests for the virus, for which thanks is due to Dr Ruth March, Senior Vice-President, Precision Medicine and Biosamples at AstraZeneca for her role in developing mass diagnostic tests. She, too, has been awarded an OBE for her work in advancing the means to help reduce the spread of the virus. 

Dr Malur Sudhanva, consultant medical virologist, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, was also recognised in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List with an OBE for ‘services to healthcare and science, particularly during the pandemic’, and was sure to have much in common over afternoon tea chats with Professor Mark Radford who, as Chief Nurse and Deputy CEO, Health Education England and Deputy Chief Nursing Officer of the NHS, helped lead the national nursing response to Covid-19.

Inspiring examples of scientific endeavour and adventure don’t come more intrepid than Captain Harpreet Chandi, MBE, an army medical officer who only six months ago completed a solo expedition across Antarctica to the South Pole, and Colonel Tim Peake who needs little introduction as our man on the International Space Station. Col Peake, whose official description is ‘Army Air Corps Officer. European Space Agency astronaut and test pilot’, even ran the 2016 London Marathon while in orbit on the ISS treadmill.

The ongoing war in Europe remains at the forefront of minds during The Championships, the Club having condemned Russia’s illegal invasion and expressed support for Ukraine with a number of donations to charities; organisers have also offered refugees a number of free tickets.

The ambassador of Ukraine and his wife Inna received a warm welcome (as did former Ukrainian player-turned-coach Olga Savchuk when she visited the British Red Cross Shop in Wimbledon village on Sunday to help promote the charity’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal). 

Also enjoying respite from the crisis with an enjoyable day of tennis featuring Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray was Slawek Szczepanski, Director of the Polish Family Association, a charity supported by the Wimbledon Foundation caring for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Poland and the UK. 

Other local heroes included Natalie O’Rourke, owner of Park Lane Stables for the Disabled in Teddington, and Matt Downie, Chief Executive, Crisis – a homelessness charity supported by the Wimbledon Foundation.

Day 1’s guests mingled with stars of sport and the stage, with Martina Navratilova, nine times the Wimbledon ladies’ singles champion, representing the tennis hall of fame and Sir Jackie Stewart adding a high-octane presence as a Formula One world champion.

Chris Boardman, Olympic gold medal cycling hero of 1992 who is now the Chair of Sport England and Sir David Tanner, a former performance director of British Rowing, together symbolised high-medalling GB Olympic sports of recent years. 

The Stage Awaits… is this year’s Wimbledon theme and that sense of anticipation is well known to Day 1's guests from the world of culture: actor Alexander Armstrong, who appeared in the 2005 film Match Point and Richard Osman, presenter of the quiz show House of Games.

Both rejoice in oeuvres aptly named for tennis. In 1922, King George V opened play at the new All England Club by banging a gong three times. Fitting, then, that on this first day of Centre Court’s centenary action, the decorated Scottish percussionist and President of the charity Help Musicians Dame Evelyn Glennie was in the house. 

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Following along from home this year? You can still experience the classic Wimbledon atmosphere on the Virtual Hill, presented by our Official Partner American Express.