The Duchess of Kent played a pivotal role in reuniting Martina Navratilova with her family following an emotional exchange at Wimbledon. Navratilova won her first of nine Wimbledon singles crowns in 1978 at the age of 21. Yet, her family couldn’t travel to the All England Club due to her defection from Czechoslovakia to the US three years earlier.

The tennis star’s decision to defect was driven by the communist regime’s constraints on her career, but she hadn’t informed her family before publicly declaring her defection at the 1975 US Open. Navratilova, who now works as a pundit, justified her actions at a press conference: “They wanted me to stay home more and associate more with Czech officials. I felt if I didn’t get out, I could not become the best player in the world. I had to ask if I could play in this tournament and that tournament. It was very frustrating. Politics had nothing to do with my decision. It was strictly a tennis matter.”

Tennis legend and ex-BBC presenter Sue Barker recounted in her book ‘Wimbledon: A personal history’ how the Duchess of Kent’s interaction with Navratilova during her Wimbledon ceremony facilitated a heartfelt reunion. Following the Royal Family’s involvement, Navratilova’s mother received permission to attend Wimbledon the following year.

“Martina was so close to her mother, Jana, but she had to leave without saying goodbye to her and without knowing when she would ever see her again. I just can’t imagine that,” Barker wrote.

“When she was presented with the trophy in 1978 by the Duchess of Kent, Martina told her a little about the political situation and why she could not share the dream she had long nurtured with her family, and the Duchess promised to try to help.

“The following year the Duchess of Kent intervened on her behalf and implored the Czech government to grant Martina’s mother a visa so that she could watch her play. Jana was permitted a two-week visit. It was the first time mother and daughter had seen each other for four years. Imagine how overwhelming that must have been for Martina.”

Katharine, Duchess of Kent, 92, is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who served as All England Club president until 2001. In a 2017 BBC documentary, Our Wimbledon, Navratilova revealed to Barker how the Duchess assisted her family after their conversation at the tournament.

“The Duchess helped get [my mother’s] visa”, she told Barker, as per the Daily Mail. Describing leaving her family as “the hardest thing I ever had to deal with”, Navratilova added: “After that, playing a match, coming out, a piece of cake. I didn’t know if I was going to see my parents again. I didn’t know if I was going to see them alive.

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“When I won my first Wimbledon I was stateless. I didn’t even know if [my family] were able to watch as Czech TV didn’t show it. They’d show Wimbledon until I started winning and then they wouldn’t show it. That’s how people knew I was in the finals – they didn’t show it.”

Despite not being able to travel to Wimbledon, Navratilova’s family managed to catch her victorious moment from Pilsen, near the German border, where the match was shown on TV. The following year brought an emotional reunion at Wimbledon when her mother Jana was allowed to attend on a two-week visa, a gesture influenced by the Duchess of Kent.

“My mum came in ’79. The Duchess of Kent actually intervened because she read the story how in ’78 when I won I couldn’t be with my family,” Navratilova said on Desert Island Discs in 2012. “So she apparently implored the Czech government to let my parents out and they made a concession and they let my mother out for Wimbledon.”

In 1980, after five years apart, Navratilova experienced a heartfelt reunion with her mother, stepfather and younger sister in the US, as they were granted one-year visas. Recalling the airport scene to the Washington Post: “I guess it was just like any scene where people meet their long-lost relatives at the airport. Lots of hugs and kisses and crying. But it was very special for me, of course.”

Navratilova, now a dual citizen of the Czech Republic and America, reclaimed her Czech citizenship in 2008, over three decades after her decision to defect. The tennis icon, who has won Wimbledon the most times out of any player, male or female, with nine titles, is expected to be at SW19 again this year, with the tournament getting underway on Monday.