Kate Middleton has been criticised for the low number of royal engagements she completed this year as it turned out that she did less work than Queen Elizabeth II's cousin Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, who is 79 years old.
Princess Anne, 73, is still the hardest working royal this year for having carried out 457 engagements followed by her brother, King Charles III, 75, with 425 and then Prince Edward, 59, with 297 engagements.
Queen Camilla, 76, came in fourth at 233 and Prince Edward's wife, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, 58, at 219. Prince William, 41, is tied with Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, with 172 royal engagements carried out this year.
Meanwhile, Kate Middleton, 41, only did 123 followed by Prince Richard's wife, Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester, 77, with 117. The Duke of Kent, at 88 years old, was able to carry out 69 royal engagements.
Awks for the Kate Middleton fans 🥴 pic.twitter.com/R1Sl00CB0u
— David (@Davidls6) December 11, 2023
The Telegraph compiled the workload of each working royal family member based on the Court Circular, the royal family's official record of previous engagements. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said Princess Anne "is one of the best advertisements for the Royal family because she is hardworking, she is dedicated and she is popular because people look at the way she handles things and they like it".
Dickie Arbiter, the former press spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II, said that Princess Anne "just gets on with it, often carrying out multiple engagements in one day". As for King Charles III, he said much of what His Majesty "does is behind the scenes, in meetings and going through his red boxes, which doesn't warrant a mention in the Court Circular".
He added: "Anne is a tremendous support to the King. He bounces ideas off her. For an ageing monarchy they are doing pretty well."
As for the Princess of Wales, she may have stepped up her number of engagements from last year's 90 appearances, but she still lagged far behind from other senior royal family members. This has not come unnoticed by royal watchers who criticised the mum-of-three for her alleged lack of work ethic as a future queen.
One commented: "128 engagements from the Princess of Wales. What. A. Joke. She should be ashamed."
Another wrote: "172 from William is also unacceptable. Should expect at least 250 from the heir to the throne. These are their prime years, they're wasting them."
A third added: "Yikes! The heirs being that low is not good. Both of them need to pick it up next year. It's getting embarrassing."
One more suggested: "Now that all of the children are in school, they should be getting four to six engagements in a week, each. Even more if you consider how many times multiple engagements are done in a day (see Princess Anne and The King's numbers)."
Another wondered: "I don't understand how there are people who make excuses for her lack of engagements."
Meanwhile, there were those who defended Kate Middleton with one writing: "They do have a small family to bring up." Another commented: "Catherine is raising 3 children. As they grow so will her engagements. Learning from past mistakes."
Not at all 😂😂 Catherine has 3 children to raise- the future heirs. She hand picked her charities she can focus 💯 on. Quality over Quantity. 👏
— Tracy E (@tabbs78) December 12, 2023
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+ patron for 30 charities
According to The Telegraph, this analysis of the number of royal engagements carried out by the working royals have raised questions about the future of the monarchy, especially with the "Prince and Princess of Wales taking a very different approach to that of the older generation".
They have reportedly "deliberately chosen to focus on fewer patronages" and hope to use their power instead to highlight "issues close to their hearts to make a bigger difference". These include working on their own projects such as the Prince of Wales' Earthshot Prize and the Princess of Wales' Shaping Us campaign.
Then there is also the matter of juggling their time between work and family. The couple has three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, who are already in school. Prince William and Kate Middleton reportedly want to spend more time with their children because they want them to have as normal an upbringing as possible.
