British Royal Family Engagements 2016

[Iluvbertie]

The Duke of Gloucester – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 2
Briefing – 1
Called Upon – 1
Ceremony – 3
Church Service – 7
Commemorative Service – 4
Concert – 2
Conference – 1
Dinner – 11
Exhibition – 1
Funeral – 1
Garden Party – 1
Invested Individual – 2 (NOTE: SJJ ‘invests individuals and has meetings that are called ‘investitures’ which is why the DoG has entries here. These aren’t the sort of Investitures that HM, Charles, William and Anne undertake at BP or Windsor)
Investiture – 1
Lectures – 2
Luncheon – 8
Meetings – 6
Opened – 28
Other Events – 17
Other Sports – 2
Presented Awards – 12
Received – 25
Reception – 20
Rededication – 1
State Banquet – 1
Took Salute – 2
Unveiled – 1
Visit – 50

Duchess of Gloucester – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 3
Ceremony – 2
Church Service – 9
Commemorative Service – 3
Concert – 2
Dinner – 9
Funeral – 1
Invested Individual – 1 (The Duchess was with the Duke for this Engagement)
Lectures – 1
Luncheon – 2
Meetings – 4
Opened – 7
Other Events – 11
Other Sports – 1
Performance – 1
Presented Awards – 1
Received – 15
Received by – 1
Reception – 15
State Banquet – 1
Tennis – 11
Took Salute – 1
Visit – 20

 

[Iluvbertie]

The Duke of Kent – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 2
Briefing – 1
Ceremony – 1
Church Service – 5
Commemorative Service – 2
Concert – 7
Conference – 1
Dedication – 1
Dinner – 16
Festival – 1
Gala – 1
Investiture – 1 (Like SJJ the Masons also have meetings called ‘Investiture Meetings’ and the Duke of Kent attended one of these)
Laid Wreath – 2
Lectures – 2
Luncheon – 7
Meetings – 2
Named – 1
Opened – 14
Other Events – 9
Performance – 4
Presented Awards – 6
Received – 20
Reception – 9
Re-Opened – 3
State Banquet – 1
Tennis – 5
Took Salute – 4
Unveiled – 4
Visit – 34

Prince Michael of Kent – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 1
Church Service – 1
Luncheon – 1
Other Events – 3
Races – 1
Reception – 3
Tea – 1

Princess Michael of Kent – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 1
Church Service – 1
Luncheon – 1
Other Events – 3
Races – 1
Reception – 3
Tea – 1

Princess Alexandra – Types of Engagements

Afternoon Party – 3
Ceremony – 3
Church Service – 1
Commemorative Service – 1
Concert – 8
Conference – 33
Court – 1
Dinner – 5
Funeral – 1
Lectures – 1
Luncheon – 4
Opened – 7
Other Events – 7
Other Sports – 1
Parade – 1
Presented Awards – 3
Presentations – 1
Races – 1
Received – 8
Reception – 12
Reflection – 1
State Banquet – 1
Tea – 1
Visit – 18

 

[miche]

I do think one of the many reasons why Catherine get so much flack for her work as a senior royal, is because the "lazy" reputation dates back to her courtship years. They simply feel like she's not doing enough, despite her upping commitments this year.

I think it goes with why people think she hasn't been given the family Order. They want her to go above and beyond to prove something to them.

I think the Duchess of Cambridge has done a magnificent job since joining the royal family and she's upping her game too. She's also being handed down some responsibility with time.

Ha, the days of working for the family business isn't real work. The media ain't s***

 

[Iluvbertie]

I hope people find this sort of analysis useful or interesting but I must point out that 'type of engagements' isn't the same as 'number of engagements'.

This is because there are times where a royal will do a number of things at the same place and I put everything they did under 'type' but count it only once as an engagement e.g. on the 1st December

Her Majesty, Patron, later visited Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1, and was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Mr. Kenneth Olisa), the President of the Advisory Council (Professor René Weis), Mr. Eric Tracey (Chairman of the Board) and Councillor Nadia Shah (Mayor of the London Borough of Camden). The Queen toured the College, escorted by Major General Andrew Ritchie (Director) before attending a Reception with members of the College, Governors, Fellows, alumni and staff.

This was one engagement for HM but three entries in the 'types of engagements' - a visit, a toured and a reception.

 

[Osipi]

Ha, the days of working for the family business isn't real work. The media ain't s***

I disagree. Working for the "firm" of the BRF is perhaps even more demanding than clocking into a ordinary 9 to 5 job. There is no pay. There are no sick days (unless something drastically dire occurs) and each and every move is under the microscope and dissected and discussed and devoured by people you don't even know.

 

[Rudolph]

William, Catherine and Harry have stepped up their games. Nice to see.

 

[Dman]

William, Catherine and Harry have stepped up their games. Nice to see.

That's right and it will increase even more. Everybody wanted them to step up and they have. Especially with The Queen and Prince Philip handing down some of their patronages. Some of their military appointments should be coming next too.

 

[Osipi]

Thank you so much, Iluvbertie, for the precise breakdown of all the royal engagements. I really find it interesting to see what kind of engagements they do. I found it quite interesting that James and Louise were also in there even if just a few engagements. If this was to be made public and they were able to be aware of it, I think it would please them to know they've supported their Grandmother.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I find the 'types of engagements' fascinating as it shows an incredible range of activities and interests across the family and ways they connect with the people.

I put a whole lot in 'other events' thinking that there would be about 20 or 30 and ended up with over 300 so I will change the way I do that next year.

 

[mademoisellekate]

This number differ a lot from the one's submitted by O'Donovan earlier this week. Some people are missing about 20 engagement in O'Donovan table!
But at least you offer elaborate explanation how you count it
Thank you so much for your hard work.

 

[Rudolph]

Iluvbertie is the gold standard for counting engagements. The most thorough by far. I really appreciate her work.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Thanks Rudolph.

 

[miche]

I disagree. Working for the "firm" of the BRF is perhaps even more demanding than clocking into a ordinary 9 to 5 job. There is no pay. There are no sick days (unless something drastically dire occurs) and each and every move is under the microscope and dissected and discussed and devoured by people you don't even know.

I wasn't talking about the firm. I was talking about how people went after Kate for working for her family business, when people and the media claim that working for the family business wasn't real work.

 

[Dman]

Yup, that argument of, working for the family business wasn't real work, was the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Especially, when the path for her was to join a family "Firm" anyway.

 

[Osipi]

I wasn't talking about the firm. I was talking about how people went after Kate for working for her family business, when people and the media claim that working for the family business wasn't real work.

Gotcha! I misread your post. I've always disregarded what the media had said in regards to Kate working for her family business. Most family owned businesses whether big or small tend to have family members working even harder with longer hours with less pay or benefits from being a member of the family than a straight forward employment at another company. More responsibility and duty to the family and things like that figure in.

Sorry about the misunderstanding Miche!

 

[miche]

Gotcha! I misread your post. I've always disregarded what the media had said in regards to Kate working for her family business. Most family owned businesses whether big or small tend to have family members working even harder with longer hours with less pay or benefits from being a member of the family than a straight forward employment at another company. More responsibility and duty to the family and things like that figure in.

Sorry about the misunderstanding Miche!

Its fine

And I agree with you about working for the family business, there also a lot more pressure and sometime the job isn't simply left at the work place.

 

[TLLK]

I wasn't talking about the firm. I was talking about how people went after Kate for working for her family business, when people and the media claim that working for the family business wasn't real work.

Denmark's Princess Marie faced similar claims of her employment in her father's business as not being "real work." It's a shame that both have had to face this type of innuendo.

 

[melina premiere]

I don't know where you get the list, Noblesses and royautes published ab another list wher prince of Wales is first , royal princess is second and so....
Here is the list

Les engagements officiels des membres de la famille royale britannique en 2016 - Noblesse & Royautés

 

[VictoriaB]

I don't know where you get the list, Noblesses and royautes published ab another list wher prince of Wales is first , royal princess is second and so....
Here is the list

Les engagements officiels des membres de la famille royale britannique en 2016 - Noblesse & Royautés

Thank you for posting. There will probably be several slightly different counts because there is no official list of the number of engagements carried out each year. Everyone who counts adopts their own methodology. Iluvbertie explain her method elsewhere in this thread but because of the way the Court Circular records engagements it may be possible that one visit can count as more than one.

It's interesting to see a French publication recording engagements of the British Royal Family. Do they do something similar for the the other European Royals.

 

[Osipi]

One of the blessings of the way the yearly count is done here is that its the culmination of the weekly count and tabulation that Iluvbertie does based on the Court Circular. If one wanted to even base a tabulation by a certain month, its easy to scroll back to those four weeks.

As midnight approaches (and probably has already been in some parts of our world), we can rest assured that the British Royal Family, for a time, have exactly the same number of duties and engagements as everybody else in the family. They're all at 0!

 

[Iluvbertie]

The count that is regarded as the 'most official' is Mr O'Donovan's because he has been doing it since the early 80s but there is no actual 'official' count at all.

I use my own system and seem to be reasonably close to Mr O'Donovan for most of the royals but why I am 20 more on Harry I have no idea.

I also include people that he doesn't e.g. the York Princesses, Tim, the Michael's of Kent and the Wessex children.

I have seen a count that has William in the 80s and Charles in the 300s which may be the number of times they were seen in public undertaking a duty but doesn't include the official duties done behind closed doors - such as attending meetings or receiving people for one reason or another. I saw another count for Philip that credited him with all the DoE Awards last year but most of those were actually carried out by Edward.

I prefer to be upfront about how I count and will return to the weekly count this year - if that is what people would like. I couldn't keep it up last year due to ongoing computer issues (we even reached the point at work where we had to operate standalone computers - not networked to each other - and any printing had to be on e USB and taken to the IT people who had a separate stand alone computer attached to the printer and then they would print the document/documents for you while they really attempted to sort out the virus that attacked our work system and unfortunately for me , and many others, our home computers as we send emails home and took home stuff on USBs. It took them from early September until late November to sort it all out).

 

[Rudolph]

The numbers are going in the right direction, William, Catherine, and Harry all increased their totals.

I was surprised to see William's numbers higher than Sophie's. All in all, a good job by all. As we see patronages keep getting passed down, the numbers will continue to increase

 

[melina premiere]

there are different methods of counting, on the site of noblesses and royautés, William , Kate and harry are at the end of the list , Princess Ann is second after her brother Charles
I rather believe the list given by Noblesses and royautés, Charles, Ann , camilla are more busy than William, Kate and Harry
Noblesses and royautés is a site of news about the royals, when the court of belgium is given a list of the engagements of the king , queen and princes , Noblesses and royautes is publishing the list.

 

[miche]

The list from the Noblesses and Royautes site seems to be the same list from the Time by Mr. O'Donovan

 

[Rudolph]

^^^ It is from what I can see.

 

[VictoriaB]

there are different methods of counting, on the site of noblesses and royautés, William , Kate and harry are at the end of the list , Princess Ann is second after her brother Charles
I rather believe the list given by Noblesses and royautés, Charles, Ann , camilla are more busy than William, Kate and Harry
Noblesses and royautés is a site of news about the royals, when the court of belgium is given a list of the engagements of the king , queen and princes , Noblesses and royautes is publishing the list.

I'm not sure how you are reading Iluvbertie's figures but all of the lists (including hers) have roughly the same number of duties for each royal (give or take a few). All of them have Charles as the busiest followed by Anne, the Queen, Edward, Andrew, Camilla, Phillip etc.

 

[melina premiere]

You are right, I read the article of Daily Mail which compares the number of the engagements of William and Kate with the engagements of Charles and Diana, but we cannot compare because Charles was the heir number 1 and William is the heir of the heir and also William has a job with the air ambulance.

 

[Dman]

William is more busy than other members of the family. He's working two jobs; one as an Air Ambulance Pilot and the other as a senior member of the royal family.

 

[VictoriaB]

William is more busy than other members of the family. He's working two jobs; one as an Air Ambulance Pilot and the other as a senior member of the royal family.

How do you know this - you don't know for certain how many hours a week William spends working for the Air Ambulance (if media reports from the start of 2016 are to be believed, not many). Nor do you know how much time he spends on each Royal engagement. Charles is said to write all his own speeches - does William. The Queen spends time each day reading the red boxes which is not included in the Court Circular. I know William sees some state papers but he most likely won't see all those that the Queen sees. Does he read them as thoroughly as the Queen or Charles?

You cannot possibly say for certain who is "more busy" than anyone else.

 

[Dman]

How do you know this - you don't know for certain how many hours a week William spends working for the Air Ambulance (if media reports from the start of 2016 are to be believed, not many). Nor do you know how much time he spends on each Royal engagement. Charles is said to write all his own speeches - does William. The Queen spends time each day reading the red boxes which is not included in the Court Circular. I know William sees some state papers but he most likely won't see all those that the Queen sees. Does he read them as thoroughly as the Queen or Charles?

You cannot possibly say for certain who is "more busy" than anyone else.

Everyone knows William is busy working two jobs. He's also busy with his private life as a husband and father. He and Catherine have upped their official engagements and will likely make the transition to full time royal duties this year. We can't complain now, because the younger royals are stepping up.