Kate Middleton’s uncle Gary Goldsmith is praising his royal niece.

Goldsmith said he was “thrilled” that the Princess of Wales, 44, scaled three of the U.K’s highest peaks in 24 hours as part of her cancer recovery journey.

Saying how “awestruck” he has been at how Kate has dealt with her cancer diagnosis and treatment, he told the Daily Mail of the Princess of Wales’ mission to tackle the National Three Peaks Challenge, “It takes me back to her childhood when they would go to the Lakes [District].”

“You put on your walking boots and off you go. For Kate, it felt like a return to nature, a return to her childhood,” he said.

Princess Kate’s challenge, known as the National Three Peaks Challenge, involves climbing the highest summits in Scotland, England and Wales — Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, respectively — within 24 hours. She completed the challenge in late June, doing so to help raise funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, specifically the charity’s efforts to expand access to holistic cancer care for patients across the U.K.

Goldsmith, 61, was talking as he revealed for the first time his own health emergency, which saw him close to death in April 2025. After giving up alcohol and starting to use the GLP-1 drug Mounjaro, which led to him losing around 85 lbs., he had been leading a cleaner life. However, he told the Daily Mail he had taken a pause in using the weight loss medication and allowed himself some indulgence with seafood and cake while staying on the Spanish isle of Ibiza to celebrate his 60th birthday.

Goldsmith recalled how eight days after his birthday, he woke up on the couch of his villa on the island and felt “terribly sick” and then began “projectile vomiting blood.” A call to his wife Julie-Ann, 56, who was back in London looking after their dogs, resulted in the house manager driving him to the hospital, where he had a life-saving procedure to tackle some enlarged veins in his oesophagus, reported by the Daily Mail to be the result of liver disease.

He told the outlet of the operation, in which surgeons tied bands around the veins, “If they hadn’t banded me I would have bled to death.” Goldsmith then spent the next 48 hours in the ICU recovering.

Goldsmith added that when he told Tallulah, 24, his only child from an earlier marriage, of the crisis, she informed his older sister and Kate’s mom, Carole Middleton. This was all happening in the months soon after Kate had told how she was in remission from cancer. Goldsmith told the outlet that he appreciates that despite the intense stress of the period for Carole, 71, and the Middleton family, she was there for him.

“I’m very conscious that your brother being poorly is one thing. Your daughter suffering with cancer is massive,” he told the outlet, adding, “She weighed in, wanting me to be more mindful of my age, to make sure I was getting enough sleep, eat more healthily.”

Carole recommended that Gary stay active, walk more, drink less and take supplements.

“As she is 10 years older than me. When we were kids, it was like growing up with two mothers. She still has that maternal concern for me,” he told the outlet.

Two years ago, Goldsmith took part in Celebrity Big Brother U.K. At the time, his involvement drew criticism from a domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid due to his arrest record. In November 2017, Goldsmith appeared in court and admitted to physically assaulting his wife following a drunken night out, per the BBC. He was later sentenced to a 12-month community order, 20 sessions of rehabilitation and fined £5,000 (around $6,688), according to Sky News.

“The decision to include a man who has been charged, and pleaded guilty to, assaulting his wife, in the Celebrity Big Brother house demonstrates the lack of awareness that the production team has when it comes to survivors of domestic abuse,” said a statement from the charity which works to end domestic abuse against women and children.

Goldsmith was a guest at the April 2011 wedding of Kate and Prince William and the nuptials of his other niece, Pippa Middleton, who married James Matthews in May 2017.