On Day 5 of The Championships, the Royal Family was represented by the Earl of St Andrews, whose mother, the Duchess of Kent, presented the trophies to Wimbledon finalists from 1969 to 2001 – and famously offered a comforting shoulder to distraught runner-up Jana Novotna in 1993.

The Earl was accompanied by his wife, the Countess of St Andrews, and sat alongside All England Club Chair Deborah Jevans to welcome tennis-loving luminaries from all walks of life to a summer feast of tennis.

This included returning guest Mary, Queen of Cakes, more formally known as Dame Mary Berry, who celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year and was known to be quite handy about a court in her mid-eighties. When asked a few years ago if she was still playing, she politely rebuked the reporter: “What do you mean, still?”

Six cakes are laid out for Afternoon Tea in the Royal Box, all absolute show-stoppers – Victoria sponge, fruit cake, chocolate crémeux, carrot cake, raspberry mousse and lemon canelé – which no doubt got the former Great British Bake Off judge's trademark “lovely jubbly” nod of approval.

They say you make friends for life in the Wimbledon Queue or indeed the Royal Box, and it might well be that Dame Mary will emerge today with a new bestie in the form of Gary Lineker. Having hung up his Match of the Day mic, the footballing legend is a newly passionate cook, citing gambas al ajillo as his speciality.

But how do they compare to the Dame Mary’s top-ranking prawn stir-fry with ginger, coconut and chilli? Or indeed fellow guest and MasterChef judge Marcus Wareing’s prawns with a bisque and tomato fregola?

Following his visit in 2024, Major Tim Peake, the first British European Space Agency astronaut to visit the International Space Station, was also back in SW19 having experienced 365 days on Earth as the planet orbited the sun much like the rest of us.

So, too, astrophysicist Professor Brian Cox, taking a break from his day job in the world of particle physics to monitor the action of bright yellow spherical objects whizzing around Centre Court in random patterns.

Outer space. Stars. Stars and stripes. Knowing the Club’s legendary attention to detail, it cannot have been a coincidence that celestial experts were here on the Fourth of July to observe American Taylor Fritz’s match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The Order of Play served up a heavyweight run of matches, with Carlos Alcaraz taking on Jan-Lennard Struff, an aggressive player boasting a powerful serve and the nickname “The Thunder”. Following in the giant footsteps of WWE wrestler John Cena who stalked into the Royal Box earlier this week came Anthony Joshua. The British superheavyweight Olympic gold medallist was accompanied by his promoter Eddie Hearn.

The icing on all cakes for a patriotic Centre Court crowd was the opportunity to see Emma Raducanu pit herself against the formidable armoury of the world’s best. According to the coaching sages, the best hope for the British No.1 was to mix it up creatively and not fight Aryna Sabalenka’s fire with fire.

Raducanu admitted on Tuesday that she tried not to look up towards the Royal Box during a match for fear of distraction, but should she allow herself a teeny weeny peek, she could take inspiration from jazz musician Jamie Cullum whose modus operandi is Improvisation with a capital I.

All of these contests were played out in front of Irish writer, actress and producer Sharon Horgan – creator of comic gems such as Bad Sisters, Catastrophe and Motherland – and whose role in the action comedy film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent must give her a wry empathy for those performing under heavy expectations.

The Royal Box hall of fame focus on Friday fell on Françoise “Frankie” Durr, who had a great run of success in the 1960s and ‘70s, reaching 27 Grand Slam titles.

The French former world No.3 won 50 singles titles and more than 60 doubles titles, including the mixed at Wimbledon in 1976, when she partnered the Australian Tony Roche and defeated the American duo Rosie Casals and Dick Stockton.

And she did it her way, playing with an extraordinarily unorthodox grip with her index finger flat on the handle. “Later, when I had a coach, he tried to correct this – but it was too late to change,” she once explained. “I could not feel the ball on the racquet, so I kept the same grip, even though it meant I would practically kneel or even sit on the court to hit some shots!”

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