The Princess of Wales has hosted a secret tea party for a personal journey very close to her heart.
Kate, 44, welcomed Three Peaks Challenge participants and their families to Windsor Castle last week, and was seen chatting with them over cups of tea and lemon cake.
The Princess looked elegant in a plum-coloured belted dress with matching heels, wearing her beloved sapphire engagement ring on her finger, at the elegant party revealed for the first time on Friday.
In a personal message shared on the Kensington Palace social media accounts, she said: “It was a pleasure to welcome other Three Peaks Challenge participants and their families to Windsor Castle. Behind every summit was a personal story of resilience, determination and hope.
Signing the note with her personal initials, she added: “Listening to their experiences of the challenge and their reasons for taking it on was a powerful reminder that recovery is rarely a journey we make alone, and of the importance of the people who walk alongside us along the way. C.”
Who joined Kate for tea at Windsor Castle?
Attendees included Ted Haslam, whom the Princess met several times during her challenge. Ted completed the Three Peaks Challenge while being pushed and carried in his wheelchair by his father, Pete, and 15 family members and friends, raising money for children’s charity Molly Ollys.
Also invited was Sean McCormick, part of a group raising money for his friend’s nephew, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaceAlbie-Junior completed the challenge this August in around 22 hours to raise money for his local football club. He was born without a fibula, and his foot was amputated when he was a toddler.
Trish Patterson, who completed her mammoth challenge just a few days after the Princess, was also able to chat with the royal.
She ran between each peak, broke the existing record by nine hours, and raised money for Mind Over Mountains, which Kate visited earlier this year.
© Andrew Parsons / Kensington PalaceKate’s Three Peaks Challenge
The Princess completed her own Three Peaks Challenge back in June, climbing the highest peaks in England, Scotland, and Wales over 24 hours.
She was congratulated at the base of Mount Snowdon by her husband, Prince William, and three children, Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight.
Her mother, Carole Middleton, and younger brother, James, were also there – with James spotted lending her a helping hand on the way down from Snowdon.
Kensington Palace said it believed the expedition was a royal first, with Kate being the first member of the royal family to complete the Three Peaks Challenge.
Speaking to former British men’s tennis number one Tim Henman at Wimbledon in July, the royal mother of three reflected: “I did it in 24 hours, yeah. That was the challenge anyway, but I think part of the journey was trying to enjoy the process, like the training beforehand, but also making time during the walk to meet people and enjoy the journey, rather than just actually just quickly getting to the top.
“The weather was atrocious. 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’.”
Earlier this month, Kate returned to the Royal Marsden Hospital, for which her Three Peaks challenge was raising funds.
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