Tears of joy as Princess Beatrice hits heights of Mont Blanc

Published on 17/09/2012 02:07

Princess Beatrice said she sobbed with joy as she reached the summit of Mont Blanc, western Europe’s tallest peak.

The 24-year-old told Hello! magazine she suffered a fit of “constant nervous giggles” when she arrived for her adventure, which she shared with friends including Holly and Sam Branson and their father, the Virgin tycoon Sir Richard.

The princess said: “It was so overwhelming I began to cry with joy for making it to this magical world at the top of Europe.”

She posed on top of the peak for the magazine with her fellow climbers, Sam’s fiancee Isabella Calthorpe, Sam Richardson and Phil Nevin, with whom Beatrice ran the 2010 London Marathon dressed as a giant caterpillar.

The mountain – which measures 4,810 metres above sea level – claims many lives each year.

Holly Branson said her father came close to an accident as they trained. “There were places where we had to jump holes that looked never-ending below,” she said. “At one point, Dad’s leg went through one. It stopped at his knee and all was OK, but he was excited that he had fallen in a crevasse.”