Princess Kate loves ‘cold swimming’ in dark, rainy conditions: ‘The colder, the better’

I love the cold weather. When it gets to 40 degrees, even 30 degrees, that’s perfect walking/hiking weather as far as I’m concerned. After an autumn “warm spell,” it’s finally gotten colder this week in Virginia and my walks have been amazing. That being said, I will never understand those Nordic traditions of swimming in freezing water. I will not try it. As it turns out, the Princess of Wales loves “cold swimming.” People Mag seemingly just around to listening to Kate and William’s appearance on Mike Tindall’s rugby podcast (which came out in September), and Kate spoke about how she loved to swim in freezing water.

The Princess of Wales, 41, revealed that cold swimming is part of her fitness routine — even though Prince William, 41, is not a fan! The couple appeared together with Princess Anne on an episode of The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast (hosted by Anne’s son-in-law, Mike Tindall!) last month as the Rugby World Cup kicked off in France. Prince William, Princess Kate and Princess Anne are the patrons of the Welsh Rugby Union, Rugby Football Union (of England) and Scottish Rugby Union, respectively.

Princess Kate spoke about the importance of being active, something she’s been encouraged to do since her childhood. Revealing one of her current fitness hobbies, the Princess of Wales shared that she’s into cold swimming.

“The colder, the better. I absolutely love it,” she said. “Slightly to the point where William’s like, ‘Catherine, you’re crazy.’ And it’s dark, and it’s raining.”

While meeting well-wishers in Wales earlier this year, Kate shared that she even had a robe for after her swims, a remark prompted by someone who was wearing a robe to keep warm in the rain.

“She said she wears one of them when she goes cold water swimming,” local mom Alison Cheeke told PEOPLE.

According to an article published by Harvard Public Health, cold water swimming is believed to provide mental health benefits in addition to physical exercise (although evidence is mixed).

[From People]

Many athletes employ ice baths for recovery and some even go as far as using cryochambers. So I believe that cold swimming is beneficial for many but it sounds like Kate just swims in the off-season in Norfolk, really. And does William even care? His wife is swimming in icy conditions in the dark, in the rain. He’s probably not even around when she does it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Instar.

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