Overview
- The Danish king sat in the Royal Box on Sunday to watch Novak Djokovic on Centre Court alongside Christian von Buchwald and guests including Sir Andrew Strauss, Deborah Jevans and Dr Mark Precious.
- Frederik’s friendship with von Buchwald began when the future king was paired with him as a tennis coach after returning from boarding school at about age 15 and has endured for more than four decades.
- Christian von Buchwald is a former elite player who now serves as a senior physician and professor of ear, nose and throat surgery at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.
- Von Buchwald was one of Princess Isabella’s six godparents at her 2007 baptism and his wife, Elisabeth, holds a role as inspector of court inventory for the royal household, demonstrating the couple’s integration into the royal inner circle.
- The king’s Wimbledon appearances are a regular public interest element of his role and this seated presence with prominent sporting figures reinforces his personal engagement with tennis and the royal household’s social ties to the sporting world.