Princess Anne has been crowned the ‘busiest royal’ for the second time after clocking up 455 official engagements this year.
At the age of 67, the Princes Royal has put her younger family members to shame with a dizzying roster of UK gala dinners, receptions and charity events in 2017 – as well as a further 85 engagements overseas.
Hot on Anne’s heels is her brother the Prince of Wales, who has carried out an impressive 374 duties on home turf this year, followed by 172 foreign events.
The figures, published by The Times this week, show that Charles, 69, did the most overseas travelling this year.
Princess Anne has put her younger family members to shame with a dizzying roster of UK gala dinners, receptions and charity events in 2017 – as well as a further 85 engagements overseas
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have clocked up 117 and 63 UK engagements respectively, although Kate was bed-bound for much of the year with severe morning sickness
They have been compiled by ‘veteran royal watcher’ Tim O’Donovan, 85, who studies the court circular each year to analyse the amount of engagements carried out by members of the royal family.
According to his annual account of royal engagements, the Duchess of Cambridge was the royal with the fewest engagements in her schedule for the third year running – although Kate was forced to miss a number of events this year due to severe morning sickness.
Her husband Prince WIlliam, by contrast, carried out 117 engagements at home and 54 overseas according to his diary.
And at the age of 91, the Queen carried out an impressive 296 engagements in total – with O’Donovan noting that the monarch ‘never has a day off’ except for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.
Commenting on his annual account of royal engagements, O’Donovan told The Times: ‘The young ones are beginning to do a bit more.
Hot on Anne’s heels is her brother the Prince of Wales, who has carried out an impressive 374 duties on home turf this year (left); with Harry undertaking 139 UK engagements (right)
The Queen carried out an impressive 296 engagements in total – with O’Donovan noting that the monarch ‘never has a day off’ except for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday
‘Every engagement is different, in terms of time spent and the preparation needed, whether it be a visit, investiture or a speech. It goes to show how much work they do.’
And after studying Princess Anne’s diary in detail, he added: ‘She is always rushing around the country.
‘I’m just amazed when I look through the court circular at what she does in a day. The amount she crams in is extraordinary.’
When she returns to royal duties after the Christmas break, Princess Anne, who was previously named the busiest royal in 2015, is due to carry out a further five duties in the space of a week.
Among them are a farming conference in Oxford, a watersports centre in Bristol and a luncheon at the London Boat Show.
The Princess Royal is also involved with more than 300 charities and organisations, according to O’Donovan.