On Sunday, Kensington Palace announced that the Princess of Wales had completed the Three Peaks Challenge, a 24-hour mountain-hiking challenge involving the three tallest peaks in the UK. Immediately, there was skepticism about… well, all of it. I think it’s very likely that Kate climbed those mountains, just as I think it’s likely that she traveled with a full team of helpers, videographers and perhaps even a similarly-dressed body double. The whole thing is just weird. It reminded me of Kate’s panic ahead of Prince Harry’s September 2025 visit to the UK, where she literally plopped on a giant, curly blonde wig to “pull focus.” This woman loves a stunt! Well, would you like to dress like Three Peaks Kate? You’ll have to shop at a Swedish label.
She’s familiar with regal dressing, but the Princess of Wales proved she also knows a thing or two about hiking gear over the weekend. Kate, 44, completed the Three Peaks challenge, climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon respectively – within 24 hours, starting on Saturday evening.
For the challenge, the mother-of-three prioritised practicality and donned a series of accessories from the Swedish outdoor clothing brand Fjallraven, including their £195 Lapland Hike 15 backpack and the £45 Est 1960 baseball cap.
The Princess, dressed in khaki trousers and a navy top, added a touch of glamour to her hiking ensemble with the £89 gold Teardrop Charm Hoops featuring her birthstone, garnet, from Spells of Love.
Kate took on the gruelling ‘personal’ expedition this weekend to raise money for a cancer charity and ‘explore life beyond diagnosis’.
She carried out the challenge solo, supported en route by Mountain Rescue, and was greeted at the end by her husband the Prince of Wales, her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, her parents Carole and Michael Middleton and her brother James.
Kensington Palace said they believed the expedition was a royal first, with the princess being the first member of the Royal Family to complete the Three Peaks. The Royal Family celebrated the undertaking, with the monarchy’s official social media account posting: ‘Congratulations to The Princess of Wales.’
For a big UK athletic challenge, she wore a Swedish label? Many will remember that Kate’s PR is that she always flies the flag for British fashion, but then last year, that changed to “Kate will never talk about fashion again, because she has too much substance!” Now she’s wandering around Italy in California labels and climbing mountains in Swedish labels. To be fair, every time she wears a British label, it goes out of business!
Additionally, Kate signed off online as “Catherine Wales.” The scandal!!
So Prince Harry’s wife can’t be called Meghan Sussex without causing an uproar , but Kate can sign off online as Catherine Wales & there’s no uproar 🤔😱🤔🙄🙄 pic.twitter.com/WkW0y9GCAD
— SK 💃🏾🕺 (@Rimmesfk) June 29, 2026
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace’s social media.
So in other words another fashion show for keen
I believe she climbed all these mountains about as much as I believe the cancer story.. I guess fashion is the only thing she has to fall back on because I’m not the only doubter when it comes to this story.
What if someone actually needed rescuing whilst Mountain Rescue was accompanying a princess who had her own staff with them?
Meanwhile who thought it would be a good idea to highlight that Kate was not wearing an UK brand?
I’m curious about the BTS logistics. Did they wash her hair right after she finished on the third peak in a portable bathroom? Or did that happen after she was brought down to some kind of accommodation where they also recorded that video? Or was that recorded before the challenge? TBH I didn’t watch the whole thing, maybe it was something she recorded when she started? Also, her upper lip doesn’t move, her forehead only barely and her veneers are twice the size of her original teeth.
The whole thing is coming off as bizarre, sad and even a little pathetic. She keeps releasing these surprise videos that are incredibly lacking in substance. This could have been something that actually pulled focus. It could have been put together in an intriguing way, she could have brought a different cancer expert or survivor on each lap of the challenge and had real discussions along the way. She could have encouraged others to have mini-adventures of their own and suggested accesible walks and hikes around the country. She could have colloborated with a nonprofit ahead of time to encourage donations.
But as usual, there was no thought whatsover beyond kkkhate doing her little thing and preening for the cameras. This family is an incredible waste of resources, and I remain skeptical that she ever had cancer in the first place.
There is definitely something bizarre about it. The press keeps trying to push this idea that she did this “solo” but she would have had multiple RPOs at the very least, and i’m sure a few staff members. There’s a video on social media that the person who took it says is Kate from the back, but if it was Kate, it was Kate with an extra 10-20 pounds (the person is still slim, just not as extremely slim as Kate.)
And again, while its good that she’s doing anything to support cancer patients or raise money for research etc – while being so vague about her experience it comes off as…..well, performative.
All the videos and photos show at least three men near her with equipment and one of them has to be an RPO.
I would also buy that there was a female RPO that looks like her.
(The secret service use body doubles so it’s not like this would be unusual for security)
It is hard to know if the film of the woman from behind was from an actual person or a plant. It is funny that all the other photos tend to show kate from the front and not walking where she looks much thinner.
This is someone who boldly submitted a fake family photo and would have gotten away with it if Reuters was a UK media outlet. So she will lie if she needs to.
That’s a really good question (why highlight fjällräven) because there are some great labels, like Rab our Mountain Equipment.
And we know that she already owns more than one Barbour jacket.
Her video where she mumbles nonsense was filmed before she started the challenge.
But of course full makeup is definitely what some one does prior to what is supposed to be a demanding trek.
@Smart&Messy: I read somewhere that that video was filmed just as she was starting, so her hair was as is. And she started in the evening, which I find weird. That’s the bit of logistics I don’t get–walking up what appears to be very rocky mountains in the dark? That just makes no sense to me. I get it’s a challenge, but I see no point in endangering yourself; do the three, but one per day or one per weekend or something.
It stays light very late at that latitude. It makes sense to do one peak on evening one, drive overnight (presumably sleeping while being driven), and get in the other 2 peaks the next day.
The starting late thing is fairly common for the Three Peaks – the idea is you do all 3 in 24 hours, and there’s some long drives between each mountain, so there’s some odd start times to complete it. One of them is doing Ben Nevis late, then driving through the night for early Scafell. Another is an earlier Ben Nevis, but a night hike for Scafell. For how weird this whole stunt is, the timings are actually pretty normal for the challenge. Its the only thing I’ll defend about this though – the rest is so poorly thought through and a lot of missed opportunities as everyone else has said.
I have a lovely blue fleece from Fjallraven and am currently looking at the Kanken backpacks but can’t decide on the colour. Its a good brand, all be it a bit on the pricey side.
What a shame there is no UK brands making hiking clothing… are you there Craghoppers? Rab? Montane? Mountain Equipment? Berghus?
So the powers that be at KP couldn’t find a brand that is a little more ethical than Fjällräven?
There have been quite a few controversies regarding that company and the way they treat their employees, for one. Or how they claim to be all environmentally friendly but don’t do third party certification.
—————
Bit OT but still… they did use the heli for transportation between the peaks, as many here suggested in the comments yesterday. @Not my King on Twitter posted a screengrab of Fake Kate and a maroon heli, and I checked the registration.
https://x.com/Nanea_T/status/2071744171333877889?s=20
This is the one time when I can’t get mad about the helicopter use because if it’s true that these mountains are 400 miles away from each other, everyone who participates probably signs up for some sort of flight if they’re supposed to complete this challenge in 24 hours. I side-eye it every. other. time. W&K (especially William, the environmental activist, lol) use it on a regular basis the way we peasants use Uber.
Absolutely no one who does 3 Peaks ever flies, because none of those mountains are anywhere near an airport. It would be SUBSTANTIALLY more time consuming to drive to an airport, go through security, spend an hour checking in and waiting for the flight, hope the flight won’t be delayed, fly, land, deplane, and drive from the airport to the mountain.
For example the nearest airport to Ben Nevis is Oban which is 2 1/2 hours drive. The nearest airport to Snowdon is either Liverpool or Manchester. There are no direct flights from Oban to either airport, so the minimum flight time is 5 hours as you have to change plans in Glasgow. Then both Liverpool and Manchester airports are both at least a 2 hour drive to Mount Snowdon. So you’re looking at a minimum of 10 hours to fly, probably more like 12. The same distance by car is 5 hours.
Snowdon to Scafell is even worse as Scafell’s the nearest airport is also Manchester (Manchester airport is pretty much equidistant from Snowdon and Scafell).
But obviously using a helicopter you can be dropped off right at the bottom of the mountain. So using a helicopter gives a massive, massive advantage.
That helicopter photo is faked. If you look at the original photos & video posted yesterday, you see no helicopter. Nor do you hear one.
@Sunday, I stand corrected. I was thinking more along the lines of a small private airport with transportation provided (not a fancy private jet or anything) whenever anyone signs up to do this with a group. If they need to drive 400+ miles, how could anyone complete all three mountains in 24 hours?
Nothing like that exists in the UK. There are no private airports near any of those mountains, and you have to be ultra-wealthy to use a private plane/private airport here.
Thousands of people complete the Three Peaks Challenge every year and they always drive (or rather get driven, so they can rest in the car). There’s tons of websites that give exact timings and driving routes and it’s absolutely doable within 24 hours.
Do we think some PA at Kensington Palace was given the task of outfitting the princess for her big hike and they just went a single store and bought everything? 😂
I thought she didn’t want us discussing her fashion!!
Catherine Wales. Huh. Didn’t Meghan get blasted for calling herself Meghan Sussex? Copy keen strikes again and shockingly is celebrated for something in which Meghan was criticized. Add it to the gif board.
I wonder if this is the first time she has signed herself like this and I just feel like this has been done for the audience of one ! You know who …this couple William and Kate are really, really disturbing
She donated the amazing sum of GBP 100! As the wife of a millionaire I would be so ashamed. That’s like leaving a penny on the table after a GBP 1,000 meal in a restaurant.
She is fundraising? How? Or is she just encouraging others to fundraise?
Geez, this woman is so dumb, and her PR team is even dumber which is quite an accomplishment.
Shut up! She only donated £100? Are you kidding me? That would have been atrocious anytime, but it looks even worse coming on the heels of their finances being released. My god, the tone deafness.
Good gad! She spent more on her brand new clothes!
OMG that can’t be true. I think she just replied to a post made by someone who donated 100 GBP. That can’t be her actual donation, right???😳
I like the brand.
Kate has good sports fashion taste, green suits her well.
Looking at the pics – there was a body double intentional or not / her legs are stick tiny – and the body double is muscular. That cannot be her.
I saw comments that farmshop kate did the hike too.
😂😂😂
😂
Lol 🤣
Good choice, Kate. I would hate to see Alpkit going out of business…
Fjallraven is a very established brand. They sell it here in the UK, but if you go to Sweden, people will tell you how they all had a Fjallraven coat growing up. I’ve had my parka for 9 years and I wear it every day in the winter and it still looks new. They are a great outdoor brand. Not even sure what this article is about. Clutching at straws really.
Her job is to represent Britain and British brands, her job is literally to promote British commercialism. Promoting a British outdoor wear brand is the lowest of low hanging fruit, and would have been an easy PR win.
Big Blue did the hike as well?
I think it’s just another view into her massive clothes spending and the massive amount of clothes she owns. She probably got this all new for this event.j firmly believe she owns, at this point, hundreds of thousands of casual and fast fashion attire.
She has personally spent at least 2 million dollars of clothes at this point. Especially because has clocked low six figures every year from the start and then they stopped pricing out her clothes in detail in the last six years.
It would seem that KP will be releasing a video about this trek in due course. I think not wearing British brands was a misstep and I don’t understand why KP couldn’t have promoted this challenge before Kate did it to give more attention to the fundraising drive.
“why KP couldn’t have promoted this challenge before Kate did it to give more attention to the fundraising drive?”
Because this was put out to compete with all the H&M stories about their impending UK visit.
The figure pictured from the back that we are supposed to think is “Kate” is very muscular and wearing tight pants whereas Kate pictured from the front looks positively skeletal even in her climbing gear and looks almost like a spectre. I thought the images featured yesterday looked pretty eerie. Kate also looks a bit “different” in the photo of her at the summit modelling big blue. She looked a lot like she did in her cancer video. She had a lovely natural smile though.
There are even more photos of her with some of the hikers and she looks very thin. That video was a plant or something.
She was accompanied by Mountain Rescue which comprises entirely of volunteers. My sister is a Mountain Rescue guide and she frequently covers Scafell Pike so she is often booked in advance to assist at 3 Peaks Challenges, she helped Amanda Holden (British TV & Radio presenter) scale Scafell Pike overnight a few years ago. Volunteers are on standby to attend to emergencies completely separately so Kate’s expedition wouldn’t have taken anyone away from helping those in need. The guides were booked months in advance so this trip was obviously something Kate has been training for for quite a while. As UK climate is very unpredictable (fog, rain, snow and sun all in the same morning sometimes) the mountains can be challenging. Scafell Pike is often summited overnight and with heavy mist guides are needed to minimise people getting lost or falling and injuring themselves as weather conditions mean evacuation from the mountains is mostly on foot as it is frequently too dangerous for helicopters. Sadly weather conditions and the tricky terrain mean people do die on British mountains even though they aren’t that tall compared to some US mountains. What makes them tricky is the varying weather conditions. And fun fact – when US Army Delta Force trained on the Welsh mountains my sister was one of their guides. They thought the Welsh mountains were “a hard ass bitch” because it drizzled and was foggy for days.
Interesting. Thanks for the insight! I just don’t understand hiking in the dark, I just don’t.
Yes, thank you for all of this info, @Michelle. I agree with @Beanie about starting it in the darkness, but that certainly would have come in handy and made it easier for Kate to switch places with “Farmhouse Kate” 🙃
This is @Michelle Me, that is fascinating, thank you for sharing your sister’s story. I did not know that was a possible occupation, just to be a guide, but it makes perfect sense that if you’re new to this you want companionship, if only because it’s a long trek in an unfamiliar place. That is life-affirming, that people are willing and able to do it. Good for her. BTW “hard ass bitch” is kind of striking me as a good description of Kate. She’s been worn down to an angry shell of her former self. She used to look happy and bouncy. Now, not so much. Sad, really. But, choices.
I am betting Pippa said she was interested in this challenge and Kate decided to do it based on that.
I respect Kate for doing this. It’s no joke! Even with experienced companions, in June you can get drastic weather-changes and even snow-squalls. That’s why Mountain Rescue is always rescuing experienced hikers up on Snowdon.
My niece is a certified Sierra Club mountain guide and does lots of these type of challenges + she wants to do that one now.
So, Kate – no excuses! Get to work.
– I imagine W+K will be busy with public busywork for the next few days and then out of the country while Harry + family are in UK. Continuing vacation through the summer, of course!
I always go hiking with my big blue sapphire diamond ring … don’t you ?
Who cares what this female wears or does not wear . I am however interested in the fit body double they used. There must be people around who saw this feat for themselves and nobody is exposing the fraud? There are classmates and their parents , school staff , doctors , hospital staff who know the truth about school runs, cancer and abdominal surgery ..what devotion to not blow the whistle. Some day a Nanny Maria or similar staff member will be paid a small fortune to do a book on what went on behind closed doors with the Waleses and Middletons…like Crawfie and Paul Burrell cashed in .Who knows , maybe Louie will do another Spare . They deserve everything thats coming after the vile things they spread about Harry’s children..the worst of it being that there are no children and they are just hired . What they say about Meghan ..all I can say is Karma is a beast and its coming for these losers sooner rather than later