Annual Engagements by Members of the Royal Family 2011-2013


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Tim O Donovan's list is very impressive indeed. I hope that Zonk won't delete this, but will move it to another thread if it is deemed too OT here because I think it is an important point to make, but over the years people have pointed out the downside of Tim O Donovan's list is that it is based purely on numbers of types of particular enagements, rather than the time and quality of each engagement. Thus, if William and Catherine spend a whole afternoon at an event, this will be counted only as 'one engagment', whereas another royal could have fitted in several engagements in a similar time frame, yet have them counted separately. ... [snipped]
Thanks for providing detailed information!
I wondered about the engagement count. It is a determinant of a royal efficiency. I think that it is better to spend a whole afternoon at an event than just drop by to quickly unveil something.
 
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Mr O'Donovan was interviewed, briefly, as part of the BBC's documentary Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work. If you skip forward to the 8:40 mark on this You Tube link you'll see him explaining what he does.

Tim O'Donovam - Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work

It also continues on Part 3 of the documentary.
 
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:previous:


Thank you, Zonk, for expanding this topic to its own thread.

I thought that I therefore would select a 'random' working day in the life of the Princess Royal and then check the Court Circular for that day:


Here is the day I have selected: not a 'special royal occasion' day, just an 'ordinary' working day for Princess Anne: [I have added my count in red]


1st December 2011
PSSR.jpg

BUCKINGHAM PALACE:
The Princess Royal, Patron, Restorative Justice Council, this morning received Mr. Lawrence Kershen (Chairman) and Mrs. Elizabeth Nelson (Director). 1 engagement

Her Royal Highness later opened the Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History's new premises at 29 Russell Square, London WC1, and was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir David Brewer). 1 engagement

The Princess Royal, Director, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, today attended a Board Meeting at 1 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14. 1 engagement


Her Royal Highness, Patron, Riders for Health, this afternoon attended a Reception at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1. 1 engagement

The Princess Royal, Patron, Spinal Injuries Association, this evening attended the Association's Legal Dinner at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Cadogan Place, London SW1 1 engagement



I admire the Princess Royal very much indeed, by the way, and acknowledge that she is a very hard working member of the BRF.

Anyway, by Mr O' Donovan's calculations, on 1st December, the Princess Royal had 5 separate engagements. She was certainly very busy that day and indeed worked until the evening. That is quite a workload. I am the first to admit that comparisons are often invidious, but if you look carefully at what she is doing, you can note several points:

1. All the engagements were in London.

2. By Lunchtime, the Princess Royal has completed 3 engagements.

3. Princess Anne does of course have an appartment in BP, and her final engagement, although it involved an evening attendance, was literally under 10 minutes from home - and of course, she has [quite correctly] police clearing the route that she is taking, which would be up to Hyde Park Corner and then down to Knightsbridge. Thus she did not have either a long drive before dinner or afterwards when she returned home at night.

4. The Engagements, although very important in each case, were largely 'pleasant' in tone. HRH's contact was apparently limited to professional people, in 'nice' surroundings and were also presumably quite carefully timed, in order to avoid 'keeping people waiting'.


I am now comparing this in my own mind with one Engagement that I remember when the Duchess of Kent [then a 'full-time working royal'] visited Helen House [it is now Helen and Douglas House] in Oxford, a hospice for life-limited children. The Duchess spent a lot of time there, meeting the children, some of whom were so ill that they did not realise HRH was there, although their parents and their families did. There was a lot of hugging from the Duchess, particularly when the tears flowed. Which they did, quite often. The Duchess also met all the staff, i.e. nurses, physicians and domestic staff. The Duchess stayed for as long as is took to see everyone.

This engagement involved travel from the Duchess' London base and, since it involved suffering children, must have been quite harrowing. It counted as 1 engagement, although HRH would have left early in the morning and not got back to London until quite late.

I must make it very clear that I am not in any way criticising the Princess Royal, and neither am I seeing to 'down play' her role - indeed, she has I am sure had harrowing times during her SCF field visits. What I am trying to do is to highlight how the 'numbers of engagements' does not tell the whole story. On the whole, though, the Princess Royal's Engagements are often said to be 'rather like business meetings' whereas the engagements undertaken by the Duchess of Kent often involved things like illness and similar [the Duchess was at one stage Patron of the Samaritans and also took the full training; although it was never announced publically, she was believed to have actually 'taken her turn' on the Samaritans' phone rota].

I hope that this is of interest to some forum members,

Alex
 
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Of course the value of Mr O'Donovan's statistics, in so far as they demonstrate how hard-working any member of the Royal Family is, is limited. As Mr O'Donovan states in all his letters to the Times, the Queen spends time everyday going through the so-called 'red boxes'. This is not reflected in these statistics. In addition, in all the documentaries I've seen concerning the Prince of Wales, they show him starting and ending each day going through paperwork for his charities etc. (and writing those dreaded 'black spider memos') which is also not reflected in these figures.

But, I think we can take a broad-based inference from his figures. I think most would agree that the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal are probably the most hard working members of the Royal Family. Particularly given the age of the Queen and Prince Philip.
 
I came across this video a couple of weeks ago and I would say it fits into the discussion about the number of engagements Kate will undertake next year: (about 25 seconds in)

Queen Elizabeth II hosting a media reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of her Diamond Jubilee - YouTube

The video shows Kate at the media reception at BP talking to people about how she hopes this year will be "a little bit quieter" and her hope to spend more time in Anglesey.

Okay, I don't like to speculate on sound bites or off-the-cuff remarks but I tend to do it anyway. In this instance, I hope I am misunderstanding Kate's words. I am confused as to how 2012 can possibly be quieter than 2011. Of course 2011 had the build-up and the big event that was THE WEDDING, then the high-profile tour, and finally some local engagements here and there. But 2012 for sure has the Jubilee events, the Olympics, and another tour! And one would assume an increase in the number of engagements either with William or solo.

For me, I am okay with the number of engagements (especially including the Canada tour, which I was impressed with) that Kate did in 2011 because I want her to be able to succeed in her Royal life - I hope she gained and continues to gain experience about what the job entails and how to deal with different situations. I want her to be prepared, however, I believe that in 2012 she needs to step it up. Spending more time in Anglesey rather than in London performing engagements is not the way to go in my opinion..
 
2012 is going to be a very busy year don't think there is much chance of her hiding away in Wales. Like you I hope it was an off the cuff remark
 
Wow Charles and Anne are hard working Royals, aren't they?! I am shocked at the small amount from Sophie, though she does attend a few with Edward which probably come under his engagements. Do foreign Royal weddings count as engagements? Philip and Elizabeth work so hard for their age.

Well done, team! :D


My understanding is that combined engagements count for both parties so if Sophie and Edward attend a function then that counts as 1 each.

I notice that no one has commented on the third busiest member of the RF - the much despised Andrew.
 
:previous: I noticed that as well. The lack of positive comments for the work that Andrew has done.
 
The video shows Kate at the media reception at BP talking to people about how she hopes this year will be "a little bit quieter" and her hope to spend more time in Anglesey.

Okay, I don't like to speculate on sound bites or off-the-cuff remarks but I tend to do it anyway. In this instance, I hope I am misunderstanding Kate's words. I am confused as to how 2012 can possibly be quieter than 2011. Of course 2011 had the build-up and the big event that was THE WEDDING, then the high-profile tour, and finally some local engagements here and there. But 2012 for sure has the Jubilee events, the Olympics, and another tour! And one would assume an increase in the number of engagements either with William or solo.

I have not read that anyone else perceives what I do - but I interpret Kate's body language and general manner in her public engagements thus far - the ones I've seen, the videos, and stills from them - I see her as under enormous strain. When I watch her I feel edgy - she is far from at ease IMO and I say that in the face of a chorus praising her ease and (apparent) joy. I just don't see it. I see moments of ease and joy, of course - but overall no.

Given that we have been told that she and William planned the wedding and did it all 'on their own' - can you imagine the strain of that? Plus, they also 'handled' their Canada tour, too, and visit to the US - weren't we told that? If they are trying to handle everything themselves - think about it - it can't have been a relaxed year.

But the coming year - regardless of all the obvious activity - will be more William and Kate letting others decide and determine and just follow along - because its the Queen's year - its not their stuff - so from Kates's perspective its going to be more relaxed.
 
Good analysis, Tyger. From the engagement to The Wedding had to have been an incredibly stressful time for Kate, with the apex being The Wedding itself. Even if it had just been The Wedding that they had to plan, 2011 would be a very big year. Planning things oneself is a big deal; attending someone else's planned events has to be easier.
 
Tim O Donovan's list is very impressive indeed. I hope that Zonk won't delete this, but will move it to another thread if it is deemed too OT here because I think it is an important point to make, but over the years people have pointed out the downside of Tim O Donovan's list is that it is based purely on numbers of types of particular enagements, rather than the 'time' and 'quality' of each engagement. Thus, if William and Catherine spend a whole afternoon at an event, this will be counted only as 'one engagement', whereas another royal could have fitted in several engagements in a similar time frame, yet have them counted separately.

Take a good look at Tim O'D's list and you'll see that he never lists the numbers of engagements, a sum total is never given. Instead he does give credit for the types of engagements and that dictates the amount of time spent. He has given interviews and has stated that the reason why he divides up the types of engagements the royals carry out is precisely the reason that different engagements take a different amount of time. Eg a dinner takes longer than a reception or meeting.

I am shocked at the small amount from Sophie, though she does attend a few with Edward which probably come under his engagements. Do foreign Royal weddings count as engagements?

Sophie has never done a large number of engagements, and even if she does accompany Edward that is still listed as one of her engagements. (And one for him too) Sophie has for the past few years done fewer engagements than Camilla. Social engagements such as foreign weddings are not included since these are seen as private events not official engagements.

Andrew, despite all the criticism of him (Airmiles Andy?) has always had a high number of engagements. In the past it has been Anne top of the list and Andrew second. As well as airmiles he does clock up a considerable amount of engagements the air travel helps him get to them quickly. (Which has been his arguement in regards to his travel)
 
T

Sophie has never done a large number of engagements, and even if she does accompany Edward that is still listed as one of her engagements. (And one for him too) Sophie has for the past few years done fewer engagements than Camilla. Social engagements such as foreign weddings are not included since these are seen as private events not official engagements.

I presume the reason that Sophie does less engagements at the moment is that she is the only working member of the family with young children. I guess she 'works part-time' to spend more time with her children.

Most of us drop our work hours when we have young children and then increase them again when they are settled in school. I would expect to see Sophie increase her number of engagements in another couple of years.
 
Charles has been close to the top of the list most of his adult life - and this isn't the first time he has topped it. I can't recall Andrew ever being second - it used to be Philip and Anne at the top with Charles and the Queen 3rd and 4th but Charles has picked up engagements from The Queen and Philip to go to the top while Andrew has been steady about 5th for many years but overtaking his parents in recent years as they have slowed down.
 
I think it is good to see that Camilla has steadily increased her number of engagements to 250. This is good priogress, and I would like to see her further increase this to north of 300 in the next 1-2 years at HM and the DoE further slow down their engagements.
 
Take a good look at Tim O'D's list and you'll see that he never lists the numbers of engagements, a sum total is never given. Instead he does give credit for the types of engagements and that dictates the amount of time spent. He has given interviews and has stated that the reason why he divides up the types of engagements the royals carry out is precisely the reason that different engagements take a different amount of time. Eg a dinner takes longer than a reception or meeting.


Yes, I fully accept this. In fact, Tim O' Donovan is always very careful to suggest each year that it is wrong to use his results as a 'royal league table'. I was just trying to emphasise the point that a long engagement carried out by one member of the family would prevent that same family member being able to claim for (say) attendances at 3 shorter visits.

As to Sophie, I agree that it may well be the fact that she is keen to spend time with her children, she seems to be quite a 'hands-on' mother, almost in the style of Diana. Incidentally, the word in my circle is that Sophie does spend quite a lot of time with the Queen, as they both drop in on each other when the Queen is at Windsor, and of course, the Queen has now shortened her 'working week' so that she spends longer weekends at Windsor [HM used to leave for Windsor on Friday afternoons, now she tends to leave BP at lunchtime on Thursdays.....] which would give Sophie more chance to either 'drop in on the Queen' or vice versa. It is surely no coincidence that the Wessex family were photographed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show last year - I am sure that members will remember the charming photos.
 
I have not read that anyone else perceives what I do - but I interpret Kate's body language and general manner in her public engagements thus far - the ones I've seen, the videos, and stills from them - I see her as under enormous strain. When I watch her I feel edgy - she is far from at ease IMO and I say that in the face of a chorus praising her ease and (apparent) joy. I just don't see it. I see moments of ease and joy, of course - but overall no.

Given that we have been told that she and William planned the wedding and did it all 'on their own' - can you imagine the strain of that? Plus, they also 'handled' their Canada tour, too, and visit to the US - weren't we told that? If they are trying to handle everything themselves - think about it - it can't have been a relaxed year.

But the coming year - regardless of all the obvious activity - will be more William and Kate letting others decide and determine and just follow along - because its the Queen's year - its not their stuff - so from Kates's perspective its going to be more relaxed.



Good analysis, Tyger. From the engagement to The Wedding had to have been an incredibly stressful time for Kate, with the apex being The Wedding itself. Even if it had just been The Wedding that they had to plan, 2011 would be a very big year. Planning things oneself is a big deal; attending someone else's planned events has to be easier.


Sorry to disagree with you Tyger and Princess Kaimi, but in my very humble opinion I don't think that Catherine and William 'planned the wedding on their own'. Whilst I do think they were very much involved with the plans and had their own ideas, the hard, hard graft was done at the direction of the Lord Chamberlain and the large Palace staff who are expert at arranging occasions just like this and also with considerable assistance from the contractors they in turned employed. I would welcome NGalitzine's input on this as he knows the royal ways very well, but to me I do not think that Catherine and William would have had to do too much more than voice what they wanted and then approve [or veto] the ideas and arrangements and plans that came back to them for consideration.

Whilst we are, I am sure, all anxious that Catherine is not placed under too much strain, I think that Catherine is going to have to accept that doing a few more engagements 'goes with the territory' and I presume that we will indeed see this in 2012. In fact, I did post quite extensively recently about the information I had picked up at Ascot that the Queen was anxious that Catherine be seen to do a bit more, but my post was deleted -probably because it was regarded as speculation. Which I suppose is fair enough, but it did in fact deal with a lot of points that are now being raised by forum members.

The thing about Royal Life is that it is a hugely disciplined one, and one that I don't think many of us can ever understand. IMHO, Catherine was able to be - and has indeed been -something of a free spirit before her marriage and indeed this has even been continued to a cetain extent now she is William's wife. Whether or not she really did work as much for her parents' business as has been claimed, she certainly never had a long period of a 'nine-to-five working' existence. Even the late Princess of Wales, without the advantage of the education that Catherine has had, worked at 'ordinary jobs' after leaving school. I was even told some time ago [before the Royal Engagement] that the Queen thought more highly about Chelsy Davy, who, [despite having a father with apparently 'uncomfortably close relationships with the government in Zimbabwe, which could have been a source of potential embarrassment to the BRF] was working hard to train as a solicitor [English Attorney] even though she, like Catherine, had to cope with the difficulties of seeing something of her Army Officer boyfriend.

I know that this is an unpopular line for me to take, and, as I said, we don't want to see Catherine overworked or frightened off, but there again, look what is expected duty wise of her 90 year old grandfather-in -law.

I hope that people will not be offended by what I have written; I truly believe Catherine is a huge asset to the BRF and I do so want her to do well, but the fact is, it is a life of duty, which by its nature imposes a form of hardship.

Alex
 
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I presume the reason that Sophie does less engagements at the moment is that she is the only working member of the family with young children. I guess she 'works part-time' to spend more time with her children.

Most of us drop our work hours when we have young children and then increase them again when they are settled in school. I would expect to see Sophie increase her number of engagements in another couple of years.

I imagine this the likely reason, though Charlotte did say Sophie has never been known to do a large number of engagements. As Alex also mentioned, Sophie appears to be very "hands-on" in raising her children, even though they have a full time nanny. We all know Sophie's relationship with the Queen and their little get togethers at Windsor Castle, so perhaps when Louise and James are a bit older Sophie will start increasing her number of engagements. 191 in 12 months, for a part-timer, is not bad if you think Catherine 34 in 8 months. I know Catherine isn't going to be a "full time working Royal" for a while, but she could do it part time like Sophie and still rack up treble figures, if she tried.
 
I am not speaking about whether anyone (ever) does anything all on their own - just the perception that Kate and Will might have had of their wedding. I suspect they do view themselves as the people "in charge" of their own wedding. Like any couple planning a big day, they would employ dozens of others to aid them - but that employment would have been overseen by them in some way.

I doubt that most very well to do people ever have "hands on" experience of planning an event, but with Kate's event and party planning background, I do believe the press (and the couple's statements) that they were the ones responsible for planning and executing their own wedding (with lots of paid and unpaid help of course).

I certainly cannot speak for William or Catherine as to how much of an event must be a hands-on type of thing for it to be considered "done" by them - I am only picking up on how they presented their view of things. Giving approval or disapproval for various plans might, in many a young woman's world, constitute quite a bit of involvement - more than she'd ever known before in her life, I suspect.

While we cannot envision anyone else's life perfectly, many of us have had to undergo intense changes to our own life (join the military, become a doctor, etc.) and know what lifestyle change is about. It's true that many of us identified with Princess Diana due to her "regular job" before she married, and Kate will never get that bond with the world's onlookers. But, celebrity has changed since Diana's time, too - we have all kinds of young heiresses who don't work and are still popular with crowds.

I still think (and I seem to say this often, hope no one's tired of it) that Kate's main priority is her relationship with William, whom she appears to adore. This is her real chance to spend time being his wife before he comes into more royal duties himself and I think they both prefer that she spend time in supporting him, rather than charities. Why not? It's their life, and if they want to carve out a teensy bit more freedom for royals, it's a good time to do so. Nothing is static in their "line of work."
 
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Sorry to disagree with you Tyger and Princess Kaimi, but in my very humble opinion I don't think that Catherine and William 'planned the wedding on their own'. Whilst I do think they were very much involved with the plans and had their own ideas, the hard, hard graft was done at the direction of the Lord Chamberlain and the large Palace staff who are expert at arranging occasions just like this and also with considerable assistance from the contractors they in turned employed. I would welcome NGalitzine's input on this as he knows the royal ways very well, but to me I do not think that Catherine and William would have had to do too much more than voice what they wanted and then approve [or veto] the ideas and arrangements and plans that came back to them for consideration.

Whilst we are, I am sure, all anxious that Catherine is not placed under too much strain, I think that Catherine is going to have to accept that doing a few more engagements 'goes with the territory' and I presume that we will indeed see this in 2012. In fact, I did post quite extensively recently about the information I had picked up at Ascot that the Queen was anxious that Catherine be seen to do a bit more, but my post was deleted -probably because it was regarded as speculation. Which I suppose is fair enough, but it did in fact deal with a lot of points that are now being raised by forum members.

The thing about Royal Life is that it is a hugely disciplined one, and one that I don't think many of us can ever understand. IMHO, Catherine was able to be - and has indeed been -something of a free spirit before her marriage and indeed this has even been continued to a cetain extent now she is William's wife. Whether or not she really did work as much for her parents' business as has been claimed, she certainly never had a long period of a 'nine-to-five working' existence. Even the late Princess of Wales, without the advantage of the education that Catherine has had, worked at 'ordinary jobs' after leaving school. I was even told some time ago [before the Royal Engagement] that the Queen thought more highly about Chelsy Davy, who, [despite having a father with apparently 'uncomfortably close relationships with the government in Zimbabwe, which could have been a source of potential embarrassment to the BRF] was working hard to train as a solicitor [English Attorney] even though she, like Catherine, had to cope with the difficulties of seeing something of her Army Officer boyfriend.

I know that this is an unpopular line for me to take, and, as I said, we don't want to see Catherine overworked or frightened off, but there again, look what is expected duty wise of her 90 year old grandfather-in -law.

I hope that people will not be offended by what I have written; I truly believe Catherine is a huge asset to the BRF and I do so want her to do well, but the fact is, it is a life of duty, which by its nature imposes a form of hardship.

Alex

Totally agree with everything you say. Let's hope Catherine does more this year or alarm bells will start to ring
 
I'm not sure we will be seeing Kate do large numbers of engagements this year, and I don't think any lack should ring alarm bells. We've been told often enough that while William is a helicopter pilot and they are based in Wales, that will be Kate's focus, and it is a period when they can enjoy life as a couple as the Queen and Prince Philip did in Malta. Kate and William, after all, are not the heir and his wife (as Charles and Diana were when they got married), but the next in line. It seems a reasonable position to me. I think the reason people are expecting Kate to do lots more is that they HOPE she'll do more! There is a big appetite for any coverage of her, and I do think there's a danger of tabloids starting to complain if they don't get enough opportunities.

I was also really surprised at the comment that people felt more connected with Diana because she had had a regular job than with Kate. Why would a couple of years nannying and working in a kindergarten (and not relying in any way on her pay) make Diana more of a regular-job-person than Kate working for five or six years at Party Pieces and Jigsaw?
 
Sorry to disagree with you Tyger and Princess Kaimi, but in my very humble opinion I don't think that Catherine and William 'planned the wedding on their own'. Whilst I do think they were very much involved with the plans and had their own ideas, the hard, hard graft was done at the direction of the Lord Chamberlain and the large Palace staff who are expert at arranging occasions just like this and also with considerable assistance from the contractors they in turned employed.

Several times in the press it has been stressed that Wiliiam and Kate planned their own wedding. Maybe part of the stress was having to deal with the Lord Chamberlain et al. Who knows.

In any event, even with massive staffs, in situ or hired, for an event that is going to be seen by hundreds of thousands to millions of people - and for which you will be judged - it must be daunting (tiring and stressful) to wrap one's mind around (in a milieu totally new to one) - especially when one wants it to be 'one's own vision' as well as meshing with tradition and 'expectations'. For Kate the experience must have been intense.

In every way I can well see Kate's having felt 2011 - when she basically fell headlong down the rabbit hole - being a personally busy and stressful year that will never be duplicated in 2012 no matter how many public appearances she engages in.

Also, just to echo others, I think a low profile in these early years is a good thing - especially as one assumes they may be trying to get pregnant. More relaxed the better.
 
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In fact, I did post quite extensively recently about the information I had picked up at Ascot that the Queen was anxious that Catherine be seen to do a bit more, but my post was deleted - probably because it was regarded as speculation. Which I suppose is fair enough, but it did in fact deal with a lot of points that are now being raised by forum members.

Whether or not she really did work as much for her parents' business as has been claimed, she certainly never had a long period of a 'nine-to-five working' existence. [...] I was even told some time ago [before the Royal Engagement] that the Queen thought more highly about Chelsy Davy, who, [...] was working hard to train as a solicitor [English Attorney] even though she, like Catherine, had to cope with the difficulties of seeing something of her Army Officer boyfriend.

[...] we don't want to see Catherine overworked or frightened off, but there again, look what is expected duty wise of her 90 year old grandfather-in -law.

Interesting suggestive post. Puzzled, as I thought Kate's work for her family (since working for an 'outside company' was proving problematic) is established fact - and from what I know of that kind of work, its rarely 9-to-5 but rather 24/7 - meaning its all the time and one gets in the 'play' as one can.

Also, please look at this DailyMail article on-line - talk about diametrically opposing reports (yours from your contacts and DM's from theirs) -

Kate Middleton: As she hits 30, how Catherine is coming of age | Mail Online

This is the relevant text -

The Duchess is aware of such criticism, but with the support of William and, more crucially, that of the Queen, she has stuck to her guns and refused to commit to a full-time public role.

At 85 and about to celebrate 60 glorious years on the throne, William’s grandmother has several lifetimes of experience under her belt and is determined to avoid the mistakes the family made by throwing a 19-year-old Diana headlong into the bear-pit of public life.

The monarch believes quite firmly that the Royal Family should let Kate — of whom she has already grown extremely fond — enjoy some time as an ‘ordinary’ military wife before a lifetime of public service calls.

So the Duchess has spent the past four months working her way through applications from the hundreds of charities that contacted the Palace begging for her backing after the Royal Wedding and asking her staff to approach organisations on her behalf.

‘The couple are in a unique stage of their life and the Royal Family are very supportive indeed of their prioritising a lower-profile life and spending time together.’


Because I believe I pick up a Kate who is tense, I think the quiet beginning is wise. This was not her life just months ago - and the potential for problems is not minor. She is not the wife of the heir - so why she should be pressed at this time to me is a puzzle. When William steps up to the plate full-time - as people have mentioned - then her role can expand. Makes sense to me.
 
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Because I believe I pick up a Kate who is tense, I think the quiet beginning is wise. This was not her life just months ago - and the potential for problems is not minor. She is not the wife of the heir - so why she should be pressed at this time to me is a puzzle. When William steps up to the plate full-time - as people have mentioned - then her role can expand. Makes sense to me.

I'm not really picking up a tense vibe from Kate, but I do think that she is not always as sure of herself as everyone says. Not that I think she is doing poorly, I just see nerves every now and then, which IMHO should be expected.

As to the bold part of your post, I couldn't agree more. :flowers:
 
Charles has been close to the top of the list most of his adult life - and this isn't the first time he has topped it. I can't recall Andrew ever being second - it used to be Philip and Anne at the top with Charles and the Queen 3rd and 4th but Charles has picked up engagements from The Queen and Philip to go to the top while Andrew has been steady about 5th for many years but overtaking his parents in recent years as they have slowed down.

Here are the numbers from the last 5 years and you can see that Andrew has consistently high numbers. The top 3.

2010
Charles 585
Andrew 539
Anne 515

2009
Anne 573
Charles 529
Andrew 525

2008
Charles 560
Anne 534
Andrew 507

2007
Anne 613
Andrew 556
Charles 498

2006
Anne 595
Charles 500
Andrew 446

2005
Anne 640
Andrew 535
The Queen 486
(Charles came in 4th this year with 479)

So in the last 5 years Andrew carried out the 2nd highest amount of official engagements in 3 of those years.

I imagine this the likely reason, though Charlotte did say Sophie has never been known to do a large number of engagements. As Alex also mentioned, Sophie appears to be very "hands-on" in raising her children, even though they have a full time nanny. We all know Sophie's relationship with the Queen and their little get togethers at Windsor Castle, so perhaps when Louise and James are a bit older Sophie will start increasing her number of engagements. 191 in 12 months, for a part-timer, is not bad if you think Catherine 34 in 8 months. I know Catherine isn't going to be a "full time working Royal" for a while, but she could do it part time like Sophie and still rack up treble figures, if she tried.

Sophie isn't a 'part-time' royal she's a fulltime one! It's just that she is a the wife of a minor royal and so is doing the amount of engagements appropriate to that position. Sophie tends to group her official engagements to a few days (she will do anything up to 4 in a day) and then not do any engagements for a week or 2. She doesn't do official engagements everyday, the way that Anne does for example.

I was even told some time ago [before the Royal Engagement] that the Queen thought more highly about Chelsy Davy, who, [...] was working hard to train as a solicitor [English Attorney] even though she, like Catherine, had to cope with the difficulties of seeing something of her Army Officer boyfriend.

Before the royal engagement Chelsy Davy wasn't working anywhere! Never mind training to be a solicitor. She began her working life last September as a trainee, up until then she had never worked, part-time or fulltime. So I doubt very much if the Queen expressed any opinion at all since Chelsy wasn't actually working.
 
Number of Royal Duties by BRF (2012 -

Is Anne included in the former or latter list? I would hope the hardest working member of the BRF would be appreciated by press and public alike... :whistling:


Anne these days is with the others - a minor royal. By number of engagements she isn't the hardest working and hasn't been for a number of years - Charles is. At the moment this year she is about 4th or 5th in terms of number of engagments. She is a very minor royal now and will only become less relevant as time goes by.

As for Beatrice going to India it would open up opportunities that a single man can't bring to the table and show that the younger royals have an interest in the largest democracy in the world.
 
Anne these days is with the others - a minor royal. By number of engagements she isn't the hardest working and hasn't been for a number of years - Charles is. At the moment this year she is about 4th or 5th in terms of number of engagments. She is a very minor royal now and will only become less relevant as time goes by.

As for Beatrice going to India it would open up opportunities that a single man can't bring to the table and show that the younger royals have an interest in the largest democracy in the world.

I'm not sure where you are getting your info. It looks like the Princess Royal is #2 when it comes to number of engagements to me. Below is the summary for 2011.

Tim O'Donovan, as he does every year, has written to the Times today with the summary of the RF's activities for 2011. Mr O'Donovan keeps tabs on this himself, compiling the numbers from everyday's Court Circular. These figures are his and are summarised below:

Total engagements, both in the UK and abroad, during 2011

The Queen - 370
Duke of Edinburgh - 330
Prince of Wales - 601
Duchess of Cornwall - 250
Duke of York - 455
Earl of Wessex - 374
Countess of Wessex - 191
Princess Royal - 568
Duke of Gloucester - 251
Duchess of Gloucester - 155
Duke of Kent - 211
Princess Alexandra - 118

Prince William undertook 90 engagements, despite also working full time. Catherine has undertaken 34 engagements since appearing in the Court Circular for the first time on 4 June. Prince Harry undertook 16 engagements while also working full time.

The Queen undertook 62 fewer engagements than in 2010, while the DoE undertook 26 fewer.

Mr Donovan always finishes his letter to the editor of the Times by saying 'except for Christmas Day and Easter Day, the Queen never has a day off from the official red boxes'.
 
yvr girl said:
I'm not sure where you are getting your info. It looks like the Princess Royal is #2 when it comes to number of engagements to me. Below is the summary for 2011.

Tim O'Donovan, as he does every year, has written to the Times today with the summary of the RF's activities for 2011. Mr O'Donovan keeps tabs on this himself, compiling the numbers from everyday's Court Circular. These figures are his and are summarised below:

Total engagements, both in the UK and abroad, during 2011

The Queen - 370
Duke of Edinburgh - 330
Prince of Wales - 601
Duchess of Cornwall - 250
Duke of York - 455
Earl of Wessex - 374
Countess of Wessex - 191
Princess Royal - 568
Duke of Gloucester - 251
Duchess of Gloucester - 155
Duke of Kent - 211
Princess Alexandra - 118

Prince William undertook 90 engagements, despite also working full time. Catherine has undertaken 34 engagements since appearing in the Court Circular for the first time on 4 June. Prince Harry undertook 16 engagements while also working full time.

The Queen undertook 62 fewer engagements than in 2010, while the DoE undertook 26 fewer.

Mr Donovan always finishes his letter to the editor of the Times by saying 'except for Christmas Day and Easter Day, the Queen never has a day off from the official red boxes'.

As rich as this family has become off of its citizenry, I do not feel sorry for anyone in the BRF or any other RF as far as their duties devoted to their 'subjects.' I feel they should invest some of their monies received back into their publics and public projects.
 
As rich as this family has become off of its citizenry, I do not feel sorry for anyone in the BRF or any other RF as far as their duties devoted to their 'subjects.' I feel they should invest some of their monies received back into their publics and public projects.
Well there is a little thing called The Princes Trust that you might be interested in.
 
Well there is a little thing called The Princes Trust that you might be interested in.

That was the first thing to hit my brain too as I read they should give back to the public. Charles (who leads the pack in engagements for 2011) has taken areas that he is passionate about and turned them into organizations that will not only benefit the people of the UK, but the global community. He's also authored quite a few books where the proceeds go to different projects. The man not only has his fingers in a lot of pies, but he's also elbow deep in the pies baking them. :)

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...es-charities-patronages-and-causes-16209.html

I think perhaps Charles will go down in history as being the hardest working Prince of Wales ever. All of the BRF are involved in charities and organizations that will benefit the people and they put their time and energies into things that matter. They're not just mindless robots cutting ribbons and going to tea parties and parading in crowns and jewels. The Queen and DoE have a pace of life that puts me to shame and they've got some 20+ years on me.
 
I'm not sure where you are getting your info. It looks like the Princess Royal is #2 when it comes to number of engagements to me. Below is the summary for 2011.


My figures have come from adding up the figures for this year from the Court Circular published daily - Charles is on 118, Edward 100, Sophie 99, Anne 85 and Andrew 78. The Queen is at 50, Philip is on 31, Camilla, 34, Kate 24, Harry 18 and William 2. The Duke of Gloucester is 49, The Duke of Kent is 25 (as of last Saturday). The Duchess of Gloucester is at 17 while Princess Alexandra is 9 and Princess Eugenie's name has appeared once in the Court Circular.

I just decided to keep my personal records for fun. Keeps me out of mischief for an hour or so each Saturday going back through the previous weeks engagements and adding them on.

These figures, and 'rankings' will change of course over the year, particularly as Charles, Anne and Andrew do their overseas tours.
 
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