William and Kate Release Unseen Family Photo for Mountain Rescue Awareness Day

The Prince and Princess of Wales released a previously unseen family photograph on Sunday, October 25, to mark Mountain Rescue Awareness Day, posting the picture to their Instagram account with a message of thanks to mountain rescue volunteers, People reported. The photograph shows William and Catherine with their three children — Prince George, 13, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8 — standing outdoors with members of local mountain rescue teams, and a dog standing in front of Charlotte and Louis, according to People and InStyle.

The message accompanying the photograph was signed “W & C.” “On Mountain Rescue Awareness Day, we send our heartfelt thanks to all those who volunteer their time and expertise to keep people safe in some of our most beautiful but challenging landscapes,” the couple wrote, in the message reported by People, InStyle and Hello Magazine. “Through our connection with this remarkable organization, we have seen first-hand the dedication, professionalism and compassion that define their work.”

The couple said that meeting local mountain rescue teams during the Princess’s Three Peaks Challenge over the summer had been “an opportunity to say thank you in person for the vital role they play in keeping walkers and climbers safe on the mountains all year round.” The message concluded: “We are incredibly proud to support the extraordinary volunteers who respond in all conditions, often at a moment’s notice, to help others when they need it most. To everyone across the mountain rescue community, thank you for your unwavering commitment, courage and service.”

The photograph was taken during Catherine’s Three Peaks Challenge, in which she climbed the highest peaks of England, Scotland and Wales — Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon, known in Welsh as Yr Wyddfa — within 24 hours, InStyle reported. People reported that she completed the challenge in late June to support The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and that her involvement came after she announced her remission from cancer in January 2025. She had previously shared photographs on July 5 of herself hugging William and the children after completing the challenge, with a caption saying it was “not simply a physical endeavor, but a chance to explore life beyond diagnosis and to give something back,” People reported. The picture released on Sunday, which includes the rescue teams, had not been published before.

Reports of the post differ on when and where the photograph itself was taken. InStyle’s caption dates the picture to August 1, 2026, and its report describes the image as captured at a mountaintop moment as Catherine completed the challenge. The Daily Mail’s version of the story, carried by Yahoo, says the photograph was taken in June at the base of Yr Wyddfa, with members of the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, the team for the Snowdon area. Both accounts agree that the photograph dates from the Three Peaks Challenge.

William is the royal patron of Mountain Rescue England and Wales; People reported that he became patron of the organization in 2007. Mountain Rescue Awareness Day is held during the last week of October, when the clocks go back in the United Kingdom, reminding people that it gets darker earlier, according to Mountain Rescue England and Wales, as People reported. Hello Magazine reported that the day is deliberately held on the day the clocks go back to remind people to be properly prepared for winter conditions, including carrying essential safety equipment such as a torch, before heading to the mountains.

Sources: People; InStyle; Hello Magazine; Daily Mail reporting carried by Yahoo.