Hardest Working Royal Of 2018: Princess Anne Defeats Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton
Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Prince William may be royal family fan-favorites, but according to 2018’s list of hardest working royals, they aren’t exactly the busiest. While the “Fab Four” were dominating news last year with talk of the royal wedding, babies, and their alleged ongoing feud — Princess Anne was quietly racking up appearances at over 500 events, People reported.
The annual list of hardest working royals has been compiled for the past 39 years by Tim O’Donovan for U.K. newspaper the Times. This year it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth’s 68-year-old daughter, Princess Anne, made 447 domestic appearances and 71 overseas outings — which is more than Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry made combined.
Unsurprisingly, Princess Anne was followed closely by her older brother, Prince Charles, when attending events on behalf of the royal family. In the end, Prince Charles racked up 507 total events, just shy of Princess Anne’s 518.
Their two younger brothers, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew, came in third and fourth place — attending 463 and 394 events, respectively.
The Queen typically falls to the middle of the list in recent years, as she no longer travels overseas. But, the 92-year-old royal still never takes a day off — except for Christmas and Easter — having attended 283 U.K. events in 2018.
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Meghan and Kate are often trending in headlines, but not so much in engagements, InStyle reported. Both women earned spots toward the bottom of the “hardest working royals” list. Kate, 36, for the third year in a row, came in last with 87 public engagements. The royal did spend several months on maternity leave for her third child, Prince Louis, which accounts for most of the missing events.
Meghan attended 45 domestic engagements and 51 overseas, putting her near the bottom of the list as well. The 37-year-old Duchess of Sussex’s performance is still impressive, though, considering she only joined the royal family in May — following her marriage to Prince Harry.
O’Donovan measures these events by tallying each royal’s engagements every day, as recorded in the Court Circular, and totaling them out in a list. This list is then sent in a letter to the Times, according to CNBC. When evaluating the overall success of the royals, though, O’Donovan suggests incorporating more research, as the list does not account for other obligations, such as parenting.
“All engagements differ as to time and content and there is also the time taken in preparation to consider, whether it be a visit, investiture or speech,” O’Donovan noted in his letter.
