Queen Camilla sat in the Royal Box at Wimbledon on Wednesday in a cerulean Anna Valentine dress as temperatures outside hit a sweltering 32 degrees. No hat allowed — Wimbledon's dress code is strict on that point for women. No way to escape the heat.
So she did what any sensible person would do. She pulled out a handheld electric fan.
The detail that made everyone smile was not the fan itself — it was the brand. Royal fans who zoomed into photos quickly identified it as a Tecknet handheld fan available on Amazon for £14.24. Not a custom royal accessory. Not a designer piece. A £14 fan from Amazon with five speed settings that Camilla apparently decided was exactly what the situation called for.
The reaction online was immediate and overwhelmingly warm. One person said Camilla was simply all of us post-60 women in the summer heat. Another said she would have brought multiple fans. A third noted that as you get older the heat becomes genuinely harder to manage — and that Wimbledon's no-hat rule makes the Royal Box particularly unforgiving on a hot day.
It was not even the first royal fan sighting of the summer. King Charles was spotted at a reception at St James's Palace in June — on the hottest day of the year — being assisted by an aide holding a handheld fan as he mingled with guests in a suit.
The palaces have no air conditioning. The summers are getting hotter. The royals are coping the same way everyone else is — one £14 Amazon purchase at a time.