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    The royal week that was: Buff princes and the sporting life

    William explains to his bemused father what being called “buff” means

    Patricia Treble
    <p>July 6, 2014 &#8211; London, London, UK &#8211; Licensed to London News Pictures. 6th July 2014. London. UK. HRH The Duke &#038; Duchess of Cambridge watch from the Royal Box. Prince William &#038; Princess Kate. Crowds and celebrities watch the The Men&#8217;s Final between Roger Federer, SUI v Novak Djokovic, SER at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2014. Photo credit : Mike King/LNP (Credit Image: © Mike King/London News Pictures/ZUMA Wire)</p>

    July 6, 2014 – London, London, UK – Licensed to London News Pictures. 6th July 2014. London. UK. HRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge watch from the Royal Box. Prince William & Princess Kate. Crowds and celebrities watch the The Men’s Final between Roger Federer, SUI v Novak Djokovic, SER at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2014. Photo credit : Mike King/LNP (Credit Image: © Mike King/London News Pictures/ZUMA Wire)

    Wimbledon Mens Final 2014
    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take in the Wimbledon men’s final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. (Mike King/LNP)

     

    Swimming: Laughter erupted as Prince Charles handed over his four-decade long royal patronage of the British Sub Aqua Club to his son, William. As Richard Palmer of the Daily Express explained:

    Eugene Farrell, the BSAC chairman, had William and other guests in stitches when he remarked that one admirer of a topless picture of Charles, taken in his prime during a dive around 40 years ago, had described him as “quite buff.” The term means muscular or, more plainly, hot. But the quizzical look on Charles’s face as he turned to his son revealed he had no idea what it meant. William, laughing, leaned into his father and whispered an explanation to Charles, who raised his eyebrows theatrically.

    “Pa, you should be pleased!” William laughed.

    Hey, at least Charles bared his chest. William wore a scuba suit.

    Tennis: The royals were out in force for much of Wimbledon, and packed the royal box during the finals. For the women’s finals, Princess Eugenie watches as her namesake, Eugenie Bouchard, was crushed by Petra Kvitova. After the match, the Canadian player apologized to the crowd: “I don’t know if I deserve all your love today but I really appreciate it.” As for her royal spectator, Bouchard was “disappointed I couldn’t put on a better show for her.” 

    While the women’s final was a blowout, the men’s was an epic battle between two giants—Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic—that went five sets and had Prince William and his wife, Kate, on the edges of their seats, wincing at the many close calls as Djokovic eked out a victory. As an added bonus, royal bloggers nodded approvingly that Kate had chopped an inch or two from her hair. 

    Cycling: The Tour de France started in Britain, with the three musketeers of young royalty (William, Kate and Harry) starting the race.  

    But what got everyone talking was the seemingly suicidal craze of spectators trying to grab dramatic selfies as the peloton blasted down narrow roads at high speed. A few in the crowd were knocked off their feet, while others had their phones ripped out of their hands by cyclists angry that the spectators were endangering the riders by invading the roads. One rider compared it to taking a selfie with a crocodile or a shark.

    Commonwealth Games: With less than two weeks to go before the start of the games in Glasgow, Team Scotland unveiled the opening ceremony outfits of its athletes. There was a moment of stunned silence, then the sound of pounding keys as Twitter exploded with jabs and taunts.

     

    tags:royalty