2017 - A busy year for the Royals
Updated: Mar 1
The year 2017 was a busy year for the Royal Family, Prince Philip retired from his royal duties, his grandson, Prince Harry, got engaged to Meghan Markle, Queen Elizabeth II marked her Sapphire Jubilee, Prince William became a full-time royal & Prince George started school.
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Above: Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh pictured with Yeoman of the Guard following the Royal Maundy service at Leicester Cathedral on 13 April 13, 2017 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The Statistics;
I admit to being a bit of a statistics geek hahaha, so I'm in my element here. Anyhow in total, the royals undertook some 3,609 engagements, (official Court Circular has recorded such events since 1803). After a busy start to the year, Prince Philip announced his retirement from full-time royal duties in May, a decision that took effect in the autumn. The Queen’s husband has appeared in public a few times since then, but given his age 96 at the time of his retirement I think he deserves to take it easy, don't you! He's certainly done his bit for Queen & country!
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In 2017 the Queen & her children occupied the top five spots on the workload table for the royal family. This figures show that the older generation still do the majority of royal duties.
Above: Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales made an official visit to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at Hyde Park Barracks on 24 October, 2017 in London, England
The Royal workload in numbers for 2017;
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Charles, Prince of Wales 551; Anne, Princess Royal 541; Prince Andrew, Duke of York 340; Queen Elizabeth II 292; Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex 285; Camillla, Duchess of Cornwall 227; Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester 226; Sophie, Countess of Wessex 211; Prince Harry 191; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge 190; Prince Edward, Duke of Kent 150; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 112; Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester 111; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge 106 (pregnancy lowered her numbers significantly); Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy 70.
Prince Charles & Princess Anne, known for their busy workloads performed more than 200 more engagements each than the No. 3 on the chart, their younger sibling, Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Their heavy schedules are not covered as intensely as those of the more 'glamorous', younger members of the royal family, yet they accounted for 56 percent of all official engagements. In contrast to the top five (ages 57 to 91), the three youngest working royals Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge & Prince Harry, undertook only 13.5 percent of the royal family’s work.
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Photos above; Queen Elizabeth II & the Princess Royal attended the Commissioning Ceremony of HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base on December 7, 2017 in Portsmouth
Foreign visits;.
Above: The Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall, during the Canada Day event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, 1 July, 2017. The 150th anniversary of Canada, promoted as Canada 150, marked the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The elder members of the Royal Family also undertook more foreign visits, Prince Charles undertook the most, going to 16 nations ranging from Romania to Dominica. And, with the exception of Princess Anne, the senior royals conduct a larger chunk of their duties in palaces & castles. Prince Charles, who is taking over more roles from Queen Elizabeth, now spends 39 percent of his time behind gilded gates. It’s a lot, but far less than the Queen, who undertakes three-quarters of her work in historic royal residences.
Charles, Prince of Wales 16
Prince Andrew, Duke of York 12
Anne, Princess Royal 10
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall 9
Prince Harry 8
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge 6
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge 5
November was the busiest month for official Royal engagements
The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge did more than 80 percent of their duties in London while Camilla spends just less than half of her time there.
Above: Barack Obama & Prince Harry watched the wheelchair basketball during the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 on 29 September in Toronto, Canada. The Games use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation & generate a wider understanding & respect for the Armed Forces. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage)
It's interesting to see how many official royal engagements each member does, as if you go by the average press articles & by social media, you could be led to believe that only the Queen, the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge & Prince Harry do any of the work. So this reports highlights just how much 'un-reported' work the Prince of Wales & Princess Royal; the Duke of York actually do. Indeed the Prince of Wales carried out more official engagements than the (more popular) Duke & Duchess of Cambridge & Prince Harry put together.