According to Tim o'Donovan's annual New Year's Day letter to The Times, Prince Charles was once again the busiest British royal in 2012 as tallied from the Court Circular. Prince Charles has held the record for the most number of engagements carried out for three straight years now, claiming it from his sister Princess Anne after the 2010 tally.
The Prince of Wales is clearly starting to fill the shoes of his mother as the Queen generally reduces her workload and he increases his. (The Jubilee meant the Queen did 55 more engagements in 2012, though the monarch stayed in the United Kingdom the entire time and the recent trend has been downward). Prince Charles carried out 592 engagements in 2012, compared to 601 in 2011.
Despite impressive numbers, the Queen's three youngest children rarely made national headline news as they focus on local groups. Princess Anne carried out 566 engagements, two less than in 2011. The Queen, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each carried out more than 400 engagements, while Prince Philip, who was supposed to be slowing down, turned up on 325 different occasions.
However, a look through the Court Circular reveals that the vast majority of the Duke of Edinburgh's visits were dinners and meetings — important to those involved, but not hard on the feet or stamina. Even so, he only did five fewer engagements than in 2011.
Busiest members of the British Royal Family in 2012:
- Prince Charles: 592
- Princess Anne: 566
- Prince Andrew: 436
- Prince Edward: 431
- Queen Elizabeth: 425
- Duke of Gloucester: 337
- Duke of Edinburgh: 325
- Sophie, Countess of Wessex: 324
- Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: 276
- Duke of Kent: 239
- Duchess of Gloucester: 146
- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge: 111
- Princess Alexandra; 110
- Prince William: 88
- Prince Harry: 61
Altogether, 15 working royals went out and about on behalf of the Crown in 2012, with more than 4,000 visits overall. Prince Harry carried out the fewest at 61, though naturally his service in Afghanistan skewed those numbers. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge hugely increased her appearances to 111, topping her husband's 88.
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Sources: The Times; The Royal Forums
Get British Royal Family news by subscribing to this column or using the RSS feed. Linda Gentile is the British Royal Family Examiner and you can also follow on Twitter and Facebook (facebook.com/UKRoyalsNews).
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