At the end of each year, we can study and comment on the work of the British Royal Family. The UFO No More team decided to look at the work of the Scandinavian and Spanish royal families which is something that is not always done.
Before diving into the data, a small disclaimer is needed. These numbers represent the days worked by each member of the royal families based on their official calendar. Of course, there are meetings, “office work” to prepare each event that we don’t know about, so they are all working more than these numbers show, but they still are a good overview. It was decided to count the days worked rather than the numbers of events because it was easier but also clearer. Naturally, they sometimes attend several events a day.
Let’s start with the Danish Royal Family. For the year of 2019, someone in the family had a publicly announced event a total of 227 days of the year – 62% of the days in 2019. It was 220 days in 2018 and 260 days in 2017.
While Crown Prince Frederik was the member of the Royal Family who worked the most days last year, this is not the case this year as Queen Margrethe has the highest number with 116 days worked. Princess Benedikte also worked more than in 2018, and it looks like she will continue to increase her workload this year as she attended the New Year gala dinner for the first time in many years earlier this week. Crown Prince Frederik worked slightly fewer days in 2019 than in 2018 while Crown Princess Mary worked nine days more. Both Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary acted as Regent during the year, as did Prince Joachim and Princess Benedikte. Prince Joachim and Princess Marie both worked less following their move to France in the summer. It is also important to note that up until their move, they had day jobs – he worked with the Armed Forces, and she worked with the Danish Emergency Management Agency.
Onto the Swedish Royal Family now. In 2019, someone in the family had a ‘publicly announced event’ total of 222 days of the year.
While King Carl XVI Gustaf is the one with the most days worked, Crown Princess Victoria had her personal busiest year ever, coming close to her father in terms of days worked. Queen Silvia also had more days worked in 2019 than in 2018. While Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia have similar numbers compared to 2018, Princess Madeleine worked eight days more, probably due to the release of her book in collaboration with the World Childhood Foundation. Princess Madeleine also works with the Foundation.
Continuing on his impressive workload in 2018, Crown Prince Haakon is the member of the Norwegian Royal Family with the most days worked according to their calendar in 2019. King Harald still works a lot though as he is usually hosting many audiences several days a week. Understandably following her pulmonary fibrosis diagnosis last year, Crown Princess Mette-Marit couldn’t work as much as she did in the previous year. Princess Märtha Louise and Princess Astrid only attend family events and events related to their foundations or patronages which explains their lower numbers compared to the rest of the family.
We noticed last year that Princess Ingrid Alexandra had been attending more non-traditional family events, and she continued doing that in 2019, attending several events related to the Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park.
In 2019, a working member of the Spanish Royal Family had an announced event on 205 days out of 365 according to Casa Real’s calendar. King Felipe is the member of the family who has the most days worked, but Queen Letizia and Queen Sofia worked more days than in 2018 while King Juan Carlos and Infanta Elena worked fewer days.
As we had already seen in 2018, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía attended more official events this year. They both joined their parents for several important events including the Princess of Asturias and Princess of Girona awards during which Princess Leonor held her first speeches.
As stated multiple times, these numbers are only based on the official calendars and represent days worked not events attended. Thus, these numbers are an overview of the work of the royal families, but it is essential to acknowledge that they work more than these numbers show.
The graphs and data belong to Sarah Williams (The Royals and I/ UFO No More) and Heaven LeeMiller (Princess Marie’s Closet/UFO No More) who have graciously allowed us to use them. If you wish to use them, please do it with credit and a link to the original post.
