Catherine, Princess of Wales, has completed the Three Summits Challenge to raise awareness about life after a cancer diagnosis and to raise funds for the Royal Marsden, the hospital where she received treatment.
The princess climbed the UK’s three highest mountains: Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England, and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) in Wales, within a 24-hour period.
The Princess of Wales is not the only royal to have climbed a mountain in the name of a noble cause. Before her, several royal figures made the very same ascent.
Here, we trace the royals who reached the summit before her.
Princess Reema bint Bander Al Saud of Saudi Arabia
In 2012, HRH Princess Reema bint Bandar made the same journey for a different cause. Partnering with the Zahra Breast Cancer Association, she led a team of Saudi women to the Base Camp of Mount Everest — the first of their countrywomen to do so, in a campaign to break the silence around breast cancer at home.
Sheikha Asma Al Thani of Qatar
Sheikha Asma Al Thani is a mountaineer on a mission. The Qatari royal dedicated her first climb to a singular purpose: raising funds to build schools in the Gaza Strip, a cause championed by her cousin Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Thani – the first Qatari to conquer both Everest and Ama Dablam.
In the years since, every summit has carried a message: climbing for the displaced, she has become a steadfast advocate for the UNHCR, raising the agency’s flag on peaks from Everest to K2.
Princes Hussein, Muhammad and Princess Rajaa of Jordan
For the Jordanian royal siblings, the cause was close to home. In 2018, Their Royal Highnesses Prince Hussein, Prince Muhammad and Princess Rajaa bint Talal of Jordan joined the Seven Mountains Initiative to climb Toubkal, the highest peak in the Arab world, raising funds for the treatment of cancer patients in support of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation and Centre.
