There are charity challenges and there are charity challenges that the person who completed them mentions, almost in passing, while attending Wimbledon a week later in a designer suit, which is how the public learned that Kate, Princess of Wales, climbed Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England, and Snowdon in Wales within 24 hours at the end of June, in rain she described to Tim Henman as “atrocious,” for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, in what Kensington Palace said was a royal first.
Kate was speaking to Henman at Wimbledon last week; she attended on the fourth day to watch British player Arthur Fery’s second-round match when the subject of the Three Peaks came up. “The weather was atrocious,” she told him. “I mean, everybody got soaked through, but it was a very sort of stoically British thing to do. You know, you’re soaking wet, and everyone’s going ‘come on, we can do it.'” She described the experience as an attempt to “enjoy the process” and meet people during the walk rather than simply reaching the summits, which is the mindset of a woman who climbed 3,560 meters of cumulative elevation in 24 hours in the rain and is now at Wimbledon discussing it as though it was a pleasant outing that happened to be wet.
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity treats cancer, including the cancer that Kate herself was diagnosed with in 2023 and announced in remission this year. The challenge was, in other words, completed by a person with cancer in remission, in the rain, over 24 hours, on Britain’s three highest mountains, for the charity that treats the disease she had, which is a sentence that earns whatever adjective comes after it.
Kensington Palace confirmed that the expedition was a royal first, meaning no member of the Royal Family had previously completed the Three Peaks Challenge. Kate is 44 years old. She has three children. She has cancer in remission. She is patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. She mentioned the peaks to Tim Henman at Wimbledon.
When the patron of Wimbledon mentions at Wimbledon that she climbed Britain’s three highest peaks in 24 hours in the rain for the charity that treated her cancer, what exactly is the baseline?
Sources
