The Princess of Wales has hosted a surprise tea party at Windsor Castle for fellow Three Peaks Challenge participants, including several people she met while taking on the UK’s highest mountains herself.

Kate, 44, completed the demanding trek in June to raise money for the Royal Marsden in London, where she received cancer treatment before announcing in January 2025 that she was in remission.

Among the guests at last week’s gathering was 11-year-old Ted Haslam, a paraplegic boy whom the Princess encountered during her own challenge.

Kate spoke with Ted after he reached the summit of Scotland’s Ben Nevis, carried and pushed by his father Pete and 15 friends and relatives.

The Prince and Princess of Wales shared a video from the tea party on their official Instagram story, writing: “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. 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.”

The other guests included Sean McCormick, who undertook the challenge to raise money for a friend’s nephew after the boy was diagnosed with cancer, and Trish Patterson.

Ms Patterson became the fastest woman to complete the gruelling challenge of climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales on foot, achieving the feat just days after Kate’s expedition.

The 41-year-old mother shaved nine hours off the previous record by running between the climbs, completing the route in five days and 21 hours. Ms Patterson is from Hythe, Hampshire.

Nine-year-old Albie-Junior was also invited after becoming the youngest amputee to complete the Three Peaks within 24 hours in August. Born without a fibula, he had his foot amputated as a toddler and took on the challenge to raise funds for his local football club.

Kate embarked on the personal expedition to raise money for the Royal Marsden Hospital, where she underwent treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer in 2024. She is now in remission.

During a visit to the London hospital in September, she learned how donations raised through her Three Peaks Challenge are helping fund a new specialist centre for Holistic Wellbeing.

Royal Marsden chairman Sir Douglas Flint thanked the Princess for her fundraising. Kate responded modestly but emotionally, describing the challenge as her way of “giving back” after receiving what she called “incredible” care during her own cancer journey.

She said: “This was my small way of being able to give back and say thank you to you. I had incredible care here and support from a huge team and I’m really, really grateful on a personal level.

“But also the holistic care, the treatments and therapeutic support alongside the clinical pathway is so important. It makes a big difference.”

‘The impact of nature, the impact of good nutrition, good ongoing support around you when it’s really difficult to manage the trials and tribulations of medical treatments… it makes a big difference.

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‘It made a big difference to me and it made a huge difference to lots of patients who I’ve spoken to. Thank you and well done. I think it will be transformative not only for patients but for families too.’

The future queen secretly undertook the gruelling physical charity climb back in June, with her proud family meeting her at the last stop at the base of Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales. She had also scaled Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike. 

The Three Peaks Challenge sees participants attempt to scale the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours, including Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland and the UK and Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England.

It has a total walking distance of 23 miles (37km), an ascent of 3,064m (10,052ft) of vertical climbing and a driving distance between the peaks of approximately 462 miles.

A picture released by Kensington Palace showed Catherine beaming with delight at the summit of Ben Nevis, dressed in cold weather walking gear with her famous sapphire and diamond engagement ring on display.

In a personally penned message, the Princess – who was diagnosed with an unspecified cancer following major abdominal surgery and underwent gruelling chemotherapy, finally revealing she was in remission a year later – said: ‘Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in this country hear the words no one wants to hear.

‘What follows is a path that tests every part of who we are: physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. The challenges ripple outwards, touching families, friendships, work and the quiet moments we spend alone with our thoughts.

‘Cancer doesn’t just affect the body. It changes how you think and feel and profoundly affects every aspect of life. I know this personally, and that the journey through and beyond treatment requires more than medicine alone.

‘I have taken on the National Three Peaks Challenge, not simply as a physical endeavour but as a chance to explore life beyond diagnosis and to give something back.

‘The Royal Marsden is a place that holds great meaning for me and whose care and expertise are life-changing for so many people.’

The princess said she was keen to raise awareness for the ‘deeper impact of serious illness’ and, particularly, the importance of holistic healthcare, which she says complements clinical pathways and ‘support patients’ ability to maintain their wellbeing, resilience and quality of life during an exceptionally difficult time’.

She is keen to enable more people nationwide to access the kind of personalised support ‘that can help make a meaningful difference during and after medical treatment’.

‘Healing, whether personal or collective, is not just about fixing what is wrong. It is about finding balance in how we live,’ she said.

‘Together, we can stand alongside everyone navigating life with cancer, ensuring no one faces this disease feeling unseen or unsupported. Please know you are not alone’. 

The royal carried out the challenge solo, supported en route by Mountain Rescue, and was greeted at the end by William, her children George, Charlotte and Louis, her parents Carole and Michael Middleton and 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.

Kate revealed she had taken on the trek, not only as a physical endeavour, but ‘to give something back’ and raise awareness of the wider impact of serious illness.

The princess was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer early in 2024, for which she underwent chemotherapy, and she announced she was in remission 18 months ago in January 2025.

The physical challenge marked the latest milestone for the princess, who has gradually returned to royal duties, and in May, restarted her international travel with a working trip to Italy.

Zack Polanski was booed at a London hustings after telling British Jews that Zionism is “in practice” racism and accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The Green Party leader, who is Jewish, described himself as an “anti-Zionist” during the event for candidates contesting the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which is due to take place in less than two weeks.

Mr Polanski said those who label criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched after the October 7 terror attacks, as antisemitic were putting Jewish people at greater risk.

His comments came as Green Party hardliners seek to change party policy in favour of dismantling Israel and establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Organised by the London Jewish Forum and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the hustings saw Mr Polanski heckled when he claimed that Zionism “relies on the displacement and genocide of the Palestinian people”.

Asked whether he regarded Zionism as a form of racism, as some other Green Party members do, he replied: “I think there’s a problem with definitions. It means different things to different people.”

He added: “If you’re defining Zionism as a displacement genocide, which is how, in practice, Zionism has become, then that is racism.”

The audience, however, applauded the Reform candidate after he said the UK failed to take antisemitism seriously and had placed “an over-focus on events in Israel, as if that’s the only thing that matters in the world”.

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According to Jewish News, Conservative candidate Ewan Cameron was also supported when he said: “We need to be accountable for the words we use. I just heard Mr Polanski referring to apartheid and genocide.”

“These are explosive words. People then take those words and interpret them as statements of fact,” he said.

“Presenting one side as entirely good and the other as entirely bad is unhelpful. If you genuinely want to discuss international affairs, you must explain the context—including Hamas, the complexities of Palestine, Gaza’s history, the realities of democracy and the situation in Israel following the October 7 attacks.

“Without that context, these sound bites can contribute to antisemitic behaviour and reactions.”

Mr Polanski is also facing a renewed effort by hardline pro-Palestinian figures in the party to pass a motion at next week’s conference titled “Zionism is Racism”. The motion calls for “a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital”.

Written by a London-based artist who argues that Hamas should not be classified as a terrorist organisation, the motion also calls for Israel to be treated like apartheid-era South Africa.

It proposes wide-ranging boycotts and sanctions, claiming: “Zionism has created and seeks to maintain – and where possible – expand, an apartheid regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

In a pamphlet accompanying the motion, its author, Lubna Speitan, called for “an end to this racism and the monstrous State that has been built upon it”. She ended with the words: “Free Palestine, from the river to the sea,” a phrase that has been criticised as antisemitic.

In an interview last week, Mr Polanski, who is standing for election to the Commons the week after the conference, indicated that he would not support the motion in its current form. He described it as a “distraction” that was “not going to help”.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping burst out laughing after Donald Trump showed him a mocking “portrait” of Joe Biden.

Xi arrived in Washington, DC, on Thursday for high-level talks between the world’s two leading superpowers.

Trump emphasized his “great friendship” with Xi and mounted an elaborate welcome for the Chinese leader. He greeted him on the runway, offered him an unusual tour of the presidential helicopter and presented him with a statue of a bald eagle.

Trump also escorted Xi to the Presidential Walk of Fame, a gallery displaying portraits of nearly all former US presidents.

The notable exception was Biden. In place of a portrait of the former president, Trump had installed a photograph of an autopen—a pointed reference to Biden’s use of the device to sign legislation.

Footage released by the White House showed Trump guiding Xi past the presidential portraits.

After gesturing toward his own portrait, Trump told Xi: “And this is the autopen… it’s Biden.”

Xi responded with a hearty laugh as one of his aides appeared to translate Trump’s remark into Mandarin.

The autopen became a major political flashpoint during the final months of Biden’s presidency.

The device reproduces a person’s signature with precision and is generally used for large volumes of documents or ceremonial paperwork. Presidents from both major US political parties have used autopens to sign letters and proclamations.

Trump and his supporters have made a series of unfounded claims that Biden’s use of the autopen invalidated his official actions or indicated that he was not fully aware of them. Trump, who is known for his provocative political style and criticism of his opponents, repeatedly focused on Biden’s use of the device to sign government documents.

Before leaving office in January 2025, Biden used the technology to issue several pardons, including pardons for family members he sought to shield from politically motivated investigations.

He also commuted criminal sentences, including those imposed on non-violent drug offenders.

Trump objected to the move and announced in December 2025 that he was terminating documents—including pardons—that he said had been signed by his predecessor using an autopen.

At the time, Trump wrote: “Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized ‘AUTOPEN,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect.”

“Anyone receiving ‘Pardons,’ ‘Commutations’, or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The exchange came as US and Chinese officials held significant talks that, so far, have produced few major diplomatic breakthroughs.

Xi said the meetings had produced “many new consensuses.” However, the only concrete agreements announced were a pledge to invite 100,000 young Americans to China for exchanges and a plan to lend two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta.

Xi once again urged the two sides to avoid the ‘Thucydides Trap’ – the theory that a rising power will come into conflict with an established one – but there was little sign of progress on thorny issues like Taiwan or artificial intelligence.

Trump and Xi hinted at big differences on their approach to the regulation of Artificial Intelligence – or ‘super intelligence’, as Trump referred to it.

While Trump has dismissed calls from tech leaders for regulations to ‘pace the frontier’ of the technology, Xi said AI should ‘always be under human control’.

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‘There is some broad general agreement on the risks presented by AI, but they diverge on how to manage this,’ according to Dylan Loh of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

‘Deep suspicions and intensifying competition’ on AI mean breakthroughs on governing the technology are unlikely, Mr Loh said.

One significant deal was the extension by two months of the countries’ fragile trade truce – due to expire in November.

The detente paused a bruising trade war last year by reducing US tariffs on Chinese goods and removing Beijing’s export controls on rare earths vital to manufacturing.

‘I think the Chinese would have hoped for a longer extension, but they are also realistic,’ said Mr Loh.

The truce would provide ‘some calm on the trade front,’ he said.

Trump is ‘trying to stabilise relations for now until the US can basically decrease its vulnerabilities to Beijing’, according to Jared Mondschein, Director of Research at the United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney.

Trump, a self-styled deal maker, has repeatedly called on China to purchase more US goods to establish a more ‘balanced’ economic relationship.

However, Xi’s visit hasn’t yet produced any commitments for Chinese purchases of, for example, Boeing planes or American farm produce.

Trump has repeatedly called on China to help extricate the US from its conflict with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz for shipping, calls Beijing has rebuffed.

China has also been accused of helping Iran target US military assets in the Middle East.

On Thursday, Xi told the US president to end the war and come to a negotiated settlement with Tehran as soon as possible, according to a Chinese readout of the talks.

‘The idea that China is going to be a big power broker, appear publicly and negotiate solutions – I think that’s really unlikely,’ said Rana Mitter, professor of US-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

‘I don’t think that China is going to be the magic card that gets the US out of trouble in the region.’

Xi repeated his warning, given to Trump in May, that he should show ‘prudence’ over Taiwan.

But he also went further than he had in that meeting by urging the US to explicitly oppose Taiwan independence.

The island, which China claims and has vowed to bring under its control, relies on the US for its defence.

A $14billion US arms package for Taiwan has been put on hold and is ‘under review’, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

In May, Trump suggested the sales could be used as a bargaining chip with China, raising fears Taiwan’s security could be traded away.

Trump ‘has been willing to talk about the levels of arms sales in a way that previous administrations haven’t’, said Harvard’s Mitter.

‘But I don’t see any sign… there’s going to be a fundamental change in terms of US assurances (to Taiwan),’ he said.