The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are one of their many walkabouts.
A Royal Central poll conducted this month over 1,004 of our readers has shown that 68% of our readers think the hardest working royal couple are The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, with a total of 683 votes were cast in favour of Her Majesty and The Duke.
Coming in second with 16% of the share and a total of 163 votes were Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, third place have the Earl and Countess of Wessex earning 125 votes and 13% of those polled. Rounding out the voting with 3% was the Duke of York with 33 votes.
Polls in the past have leaned toward Princess Anne. In 2010 though, the ‘title’ changed and Prince Charles won the proverbial crown. In 2010, Prince Charles embarked on many a journey, walkabout and plaque unveiling with 585 engagements surpassing his sister, The Princess Royal by 71 official scheduled engagements.
Here is something to ponder for a moment about Her Majesty’s engagements, according to The Telegraph in 2013 “new research has shown that since 1984, she has completed almost 15,000 official engagements,” reported Claire Duffin. The figures are tallied by retired insurance broker Tim O’Donovan “who has studied the court circular – the official list of Royal engagements – every day since 1979, producing an annual survey,” reports The Telegraph.
“She is just a wonderful person who has dedicated herself to service and has carried it out without blemish. I don’t think there is any doubt that she is the hardest working head of state in the world,” Mr. O’Donovan told The Telegraph.
King George III began having the Court Circular listing the official engagements published in 1803. The King “created the role of a court newsman after apparently becoming frustrated at what he saw as inaccurate reporting of royal events in the then newspapers,” according to The Telegraph.
In April 1943, Her Majesty went on her first unaccompanied engagement, when she was 17. The then Princess Elizabeth reviewed a Grenadier Guards tank battalion.
Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall leaving one of the hundred’s of engagements they attend each year.
The Duke of Edinburgh certainly has not skirted his royal responsibilities despite a few stays in hospital the past two years. Prince Phillip, “conducted more than 340 official jobs in 2012, up from around 330 in 2011,” reports The Telegraph. Despite a heart surgery, bladder infection and abdominal surgery, Prince Phiilip has undertaken “almost 50 per cent more engagements than he did in the same period last year,” according to Gordon Rayner reporting for The Telegraph.
In fact in the next month or so, Prince Philip will have attended 29 events. This will include a trip to Ypres, Belgium for an Armistice Day remembrance.
2012 saw Prince Charles on 592 engagements, while the Duchess of Cornwall herself was on 276, this according to the O’Donovan tally. So far this year (1 January through 23 October) Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have been on 121 official engagements according to my tally from Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s official website.
The Earl of Wessex was on 431 engagements in 2012 and The Countess of Wessex, 324 engagements. Both the Earl and Countess gave up their careers in respectively in 2002 during Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee to take on a more active role in Royal duties.
The Duke of York was on 436 engagements in 2012. He is considered a full time Royal and “his work is focused on creating skilled jobs and assisting the economic success of the United Kingdom,” according to the British Monarchy website.
The Princess Royal, who was unseated by her brother Prince Charles, was on 566 engagements in 2012, maybe a handful less than The Prince of Wales but nevertheless more engagements than there are days in a year!
Tim O’Donovans yearly letter to the editor with his tallies may be found here.
photo credit: West Midlands Police and hapre via photopin cc
