Prince Charles ‘hardest working royal’ for seventh year running

The annual survey of the Royal Family’s public engagements has been released in the customary letter to the Times from the paper’s ‘unofficial royal archivist’, Tim O’donovan, now on his 36th year of conducting the survey.

A total of 4,083 engagements were performed by the 15 members of the Royal Family classed as working royals within the Court Circular.

Most members of the Royal Family increased their workload on 2013.

The Prince of Wales meanwhile remains the most active member of the Royal Family for the seventh year in a row, partly due to, in recent years, taking on more responsibilities from The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh as part of what of the Palace terms preparation for ‘a change of reign’.

As older members of the Royal Family continue to pace their workload, younger members of the Family are still largely yet to pick up this deficit, owing at least in part to their career arrangements. Suggestions that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie could take on more engagements on behalf of The Queen have been refuted numerous times and with consistency by the Palace who say the sisters will continue to only take on ‘occasional’ duties on behalf of their grandmother and their father the Duke of York.

The New Year looks to contain some particularly notable occasions for the Royal Family including the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and the centenary of HM Welsh Guards – all of which will have plans for royal attendance at the occasions. There is also the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s second child and numerous milestone birthdays for members of the Family to come in 2015.

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