How the old guard rule as busiest of the Royals
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have stepped up their official duties in 2016 but still do less than 95-year-old Prince Philip.
A study by the Daily Express of the Court Circular, which records official engagements, up to yesterday shows that all three younger royals have markedly increased their duties compared with the same period in 2015.
But they are still eclipsed by the Queen and Philip and other older members of the family who have retained a similar work pattern to last year and undertaken the bulk of the family’s 2,273 engagements so far this year. Prince Charles and Princess Anne completed the most.
Prince William, who has faced accusations that he is workshy despite his part-time role as an air ambulance pilot, has taken on significantly more royal duties than in the first seven months of last year – 89 engagements compared with 68.
Workload
Prince Harry, who left the Army in June last year, has completed 85 engagements compared with 54. The Duchess of Cambridge, who was on maternity leave for much of the first half of last year, has increased her workload from 27 engagements to 69.
The Queen, on 211 engagements with about 68 per cent of those undertaken at a royal residence, is still doing about the same as last year – as is Prince Philip, who completed 130 duties in the first seven months of 2016. Prince Charles, on 333, and Princess Anne, on 331, top the list, in line with the past few years.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said the 90-year-old monarch and her husband’s schedule had astonished him at times. “It’s remarkable that the Queen and he have been doing so much,” he said.
He thinks Prince William and Kate are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. “They are in a tricky situation in that they don’t want to do too much in public so that they eclipse his father and stepmother,” he said. “Harry has less of a defined role. He is very much the spare but much of what he has done has been incredibly successful of late.”
William, Kate and Harry’s advisers have insisted they focus on quality over quantity, campaigning on edgier issues such as removing the stigma surrounding mental health problems and highlighting the renewed dangers of HIV/Aids in Britain.
Prince Andrew, who has tried after repeated controversies to reinvent himself as a champion of young technology start-up companies, performed 204 engagements.
Prince Edward did 185, the Countess of Wessex 130 and the Duchess of Cornwall 160. Unsung heroes doing the donkey work were the Duke of Gloucester (126), the Duchess of Gloucester (75), the Duke of Kent (104) and Princess Alexandra (50).