BRITAIN has its first leading lady in a quarter of a century.
No, not a middle-aged Conservative politician named Theresa or Andrea.
But a girl from Guernsey called Heather, whose office is Wimbledon’s Centre Court, not Downing Street’s No10.
It is another two months before we learn whether Theresa May or Andrea Leadsom will become our first female Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher quit in 1990.
Yet, Britain saw one of its woman win at Wimbledon for the first time since Jo Durie in 1987, as Heather Watson stormed to the mixed doubles title with Finnish partner Henri Kontinen.
Not bad for a partnership which started out as a joke.
The first time Watson, 24, and Kontinen had even played together was when they warmed up for their Round One here
Are you having a laugh? They certainly have been.
And it has led them all the way to the title as they saw off 15th seeds Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-6 6-4.
This victory more than makes up for Watson’s painful first-round singles defeat to Annika Beck, when she lost 12-10 in the third.
And it was a much happier ending than her last outing on Centre Court in the third round of last year’s singles, when she served for the match against top seed Serena Williams, before eventually being denied what would have been one of the all-time shocks.
So Watson’s doubles win here, however unexpected, should now send her confidence soaring as she bids to climb even higher than her current singles ranking of world No55.
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She had admitted a “British double” was the aim of the day, with Andy Murray up first in the men’s singles.
Murray did his job as he emphatically downed Milos Raonic to claim his second Wimbledon crown.
But then it was up to Watson to complete the brace.
After the excitement of the Murray match, only a quarter of the Centre Court crowd were in their seats for the start of this mixed final.
But as the attendance started to improve, so did the elementary Watson’s form.
She saved two break points on her serve in the third game, then drew applause from her partner with an audacious backhand lob to help hold again and lead 6-5.
The set would be decided by a tie-break.
But after Watson and Kontinen surrendered a 5-0 lead, they eventually took it 7-5 thanks to two missed volleys from German Groenefeld.
The unseeded duo had break points on Farah’s serve in the first game of the second, which they failed to take.
Yet they were able to earn the first break of the match after a Groenefeld double fault in the seventh game.
After Watson and then Colombian Farah held it was up to Kontinen to serve the match out.
And he did so in style, as Centre Court — including Prince William and Kate — erupted for the second time today.
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