The Media Turned Kate Middleton’s Charity Hike Into A “Meghan Could Never” Story

No one needed the Royal Circular to confirm that Kate Middleton’s Three Peaks Challenge was an official royal engagement; the media coverage made that abundantly clear. International news outlets treated it as breaking news, despite the fact that thousands of people complete similar challenges every year.

But this is the royal media machine. So, it is therefore not surprising that the headlines have already shifted from Kate’s achievement to Meghan Sussex’s perceived shortcomings. The Daily Mail published a story by Sarah Vine, Ms “Niggling Worry” herself. Yes, that Sarah Vine, the one whose husband left and whose hair fell out, is now apparently qualified to diagnose Meghan’s downhill hiking technique. Her piece juxtaposed Kate’s challenge with an old video of Meghan carefully climbing down a steep hillside in California while pregnant. The framing was predictable: Kate is strong, resilient and heroic. Meghan is weak, awkward and incapable. The commentary in the piece and the social media quotes they selected all pushed the same tired narrative.

Here is what the Daily Mail reported:

On June 28, 2026, Kate completed the National Three Peaks Challenge over the weekend. She took on the grueling challenge to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The trek involves climbing the highest peaks in Scotland, England, and Wales within 24 hours.

Shortly after Kate made headlines, social media users began resharing a video of Markle with Prince Harry during a past outdoor trek.

In the short clip, the Duchess can be seen carefully climbing down a steep hillside, using her hands for support as she slowly works her way over the rocky ground. At one point, Harry can be heard joking, “She’s happy to go up the hill, but she hates going down the hill.” Markle laughs and says, “We don’t have much far to go.” The Duke responds with a surprised, “What?” before turning the camera toward the steep downhill trail.

The old video has quickly led to comparisons with Kate’s hiking achievement, with royal fans sharing their thoughts on X (formerly Twitter). One user said, “This explains a lot about Meghan Markle’s athletic abilities.” While another chimed in and wrote, “Thank goodness she never attempted the National 3 peak climb with Princess Catherine…she’d still be there.”

The Exhausting Double Standard

Royalists love to exalt Kate Middleton by reminding everyone she will be queen one day. She is already a princess. One would expect comparisons to other living queens and princesses. Yet the best they can do is compare her to her mixed-race sister-in-law. It is as if the British press cannot write about Kate without dragging Meghan Sussex into the room. That alone tells you everything.

Kate hikes, and the response is immediate: Meghan must be mocked. Her donation becomes an excuse to question Meghan’s name. Using “Catherine Wales” is framed as down-to-earth and relatable. But when Meghan does the same with Sussex, it suddenly becomes a constitutional crisis requiring five follow-up articles.

The hypocrisy is exhausting. If Kate’s charity hike was really about cancer awareness, then talk about the cause. If Kate’s charity hike was truly about cancer awareness, why not highlight the Royal Marsden? Why not tell the story of the boy she met along the way? And why not focus on the money raised, rather than turning everything into a Meghan comparison? But they cannot do that because Kate alone does not generate the same obsession. They still need Meghan’s name for clicks, outrage and engagement.

That is why every Kate story becomes a Meghan story. Meghan left that island years ago, yet she still consumes their headlines, their columns, their comment sections and their nervous systems. They claim she is irrelevant, then build entire narratives around what she would or would not do.

And honestly, it makes Kate look worse, not better. If she really completed the Three Peaks Challenge within 24 hours, that is impressive. Give her the credit and move on. But do not use it to sneer at a random old Netflix clip that appears to show Meghan, pregnant with Lilibet, carefully coming down a loose California trail with Harry. Anyone who hikes knows going downhill on gravel is not about weakness. It is about traction, balance, and not breaking your ankle for the sake of looking graceful.

Final Thoughts

What is even more telling is that this all comes while people are asking fair questions about Kate’s workload. If she is well enough to complete a demanding 24-hour mountain challenge, people are allowed to ask why her official engagement count remains so low. That does not mean she should not recover. It means the Palace cannot use recovery as a shield when scrutiny is inconvenient, then use physical endurance as proof of royal heroism when the cameras are rolling.

They want it both ways. The same applies to the donation story. Kate, using “Catherine Wales”, was framed as sweet and relatable. Meghan using Sussex was treated like a warning sign, a mystery and an act of arrogance. One woman gets “down-to-earth.” The other gets “who does she think she is?”

The Daily Mail knows exactly what it is doing. Negative Meghan stories. Positive Kate stories. And when Kate needs attention, Meghan gets inserted anyway. It is the same formula every time. At this point, Meghan is not just living mortgage-free in their heads and powering the whole content economy.