Kate Middleton — The Laziest Royal: Lightest 2014 Workload In Whole Royal Family, Study Says

Kate Middleton was the laziest of all the members of the British Royal Family last year, according to a study published in the British media last week. The British monarchy has held no political power or duties other than in a symbolic role for about 200 years, leaving the British royals with just one essential job — making public appearances.

In 2014, Kate Middleton did far less of that job than any of the other 14 adult members of the royal family, whose calendars were publicly posted.

Granted, the Duchess of Cambridge was a new mother, and then became pregnant again in the latter half of the year — a pregnancy made more difficult by a Kate’s affliction with a condition similar to “morning sickness” that caused her to experience extreme nausea for weeks at a time.

But even given those extenuating circumstances, the light Middleton workload has left royal watchers wondering if the international fashion icon was simply using her condition as an excuse for not pulling her weight, pointing out that the wife of England’s future king, Prince William, appeared in public on just 76 official occasions last year.

In other words, her “job” entailed working merely part of 76 days, out the 365 days in the year. She may not have worked even 76 days, because often the royals schedule more than one public appearance in a day.

Critics compared that workload with the duties shouldered by Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, who is 93 years old and suffering from various health afflictions.

Yet the elderly Prince somehow managed to get himself to more than 200 official functions last year, a schedule nearly three times as tough as the 32-year-old Kate Middleton, whose “morning sickness” seems like an inadequate excuse in light of the fact that Prince Philip is nearly 30 years past the age when most British workers retire.

For that matter, Prince Philip has already outlived the average U.K. citizen of his generation by more than 40 years, yet he still keeps up a brisk public schedule.

The busiest member of the British Royal Family, however, was Kate Middleton’s father-in-law Prince Charles, who made it to more than 450 official functions last year.

But equally impressive was the 88-year-old Queen Elizabeth herself, who showed up for a staggering 375 appearances, sometimes making six appearances in a single day.

The monarch who has held the British throne for almost 63 years kept up that schedule even though she has reportedly given up some of her duties, due to her advanced age, handing them over to her son and first royal heir, Prince Charles.

Prince William, husband of Kate Middleton and next in line to the monarchy after Prince Charles, made 111 public appearances in 2014, while at the same time holding a full time position in the British armed forces.