Princess Alexandra has never made an announcement about stepping back from public life. Yet a quiet debate has emerged among royal watchers over whether the Queen’s cousin – one of the last working representatives of her generation – has, in all but name, retired from royal duties.
The discussion was prompted this week by a rare appearance alongside Queen Camilla at a service of thanksgiving at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace. Listed in the Court Circular, the engagement served as a reminder that Princess Alexandra, who will turn 89 on Christmas Day, remains officially a working member of the Royal Family – even if her public role has diminished.
Responding to a post on social media by the Canadian royal writer and historian Patricia Treble, royal correspondent Richard Palmer observed that Alexandra appeared to have been omitted from her list of those carrying out official duties on behalf of the Crown.
Treble had identified ten “working” royals – King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Kent – who between them have undertaken more than 2,400 engagements this year. Princess Alexandra did not feature. “I think you’ve stopped counting Princess Alexandra,” Palmer noted, adding that she had never formally announced her retirement.
Treble agreed, explaining that the Princess had been moved into the “retired” category of her own records after carrying out only a handful of engagements since the coronation. “Based on that trajectory, I shifted her to the ‘retired’ section of my spreadsheets,” she wrote, while acknowledging that no such designation has been made by the Palace.
Princess Alexandra’s diary in numbers
The numbers tell their own story. According to the Court Circular, Princess Alexandra maintained a formidable workload well into her eighties. In 2018 she carried out 67 engagements, despite being sidelined for three months after breaking her wrist. The following year she undertook 55 public duties. The pace slowed markedly after the Covid pandemic, reflecting both advancing age and changing priorities within the monarchy. There were a round a dozen engagements in 2020,doubling to over 30 in both 2021 and in 2022.
Then came a steep decline. Just three engagements were recorded in 2023, one in 2024, and two so far this year – including this week’s service at St James’s Palace. The trajectory has fuelled speculation that Alexandra has effectively stepped back, even if protocol still places her among the King’s working relatives.
Those close to the institution note that the term “working royal” is not a legal designation but a practical one, shaped by health, availability and the needs of the Crown. Princess Alexandra’s continued inclusion in the Court Circular, however infrequent, suggests that she remains willing to serve when able and asked. Her recent appearance with Queen Camilla – discreet, dignified and unpublicised by official photographs – fits that pattern.
Born in 1936, Princess Alexandra is a granddaughter of George V and has spent seven decades representing the monarchy. She was a trusted lieutenant of Elizabeth II, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, and remained an active presence well into later life. Even as the royal household has slimmed down, her service has been regarded with particular affection, emblematic of a generation shaped by duty rather than celebrity.
Whether she should now be considered retired may ultimately be a question of semantics rather than substance. In practical terms, Princess Alexandra no longer plays a regular public role. Yet in constitutional terms – and in the Palace’s eyes – she has not stepped aside. As long as her name continues to appear in the Court Circular, however sporadically, the answer remains clear: she has not retired. She has simply, and characteristically, faded into the background without announcement.
For an institution that prizes continuity and quiet service, that may be precisely the point.
