This was the hardest working royal in 2019 - and you might not have expected it

Can you guess who it is?

By Lizzie Thomson
published

It seems every week we’ve seen the royals out and about on duties, but the hardest working member of the family has been named as Prince Charles.

The Prince of Wales has been crowned the hardest working royal of 2019, due to the number of engagements he’s carried out this year.

Impressively, Charles attended 521 functions this year - beating his sister Princess Anne for the first time.

The princess still carried out 506 events in 2019 - which is still an exceptional effort.

Prince Charles and Princess Anne have taken on more official engagements since the Queen and Prince Phillip started reducing their outings in the mid-1990s.

prince charles has been named hardest working royal

Despite being 93-years-old, the Queen attended 295 engagements in 2019, while Prince William carried out 220 and the Duchess of Cambridge went to 126.

Harry and Meghan also managed an incredible figure, considering they welcomed their son, Archie, this year. Prince Harry carried out 201 royal engagement and Meghan - who was on maternity leave for much of the year - still attended 83.

Following the Jeffery Epstein scandal, Prince Andrew was forced to step down from royal duties in November. He totalled 274 events in 2019 - his lowest count in 20 years.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the list has been made unofficially by royal fanatic Tim O'Donovan. He has monitored the royal family's public service since 1979.

Tim has been watching and counting up the royal family's engagements for more than 40 years and considers it a great hobby.

In March, he told the New York Times (opens in new tab), "One started this thing because one was curious.

"One has had a huge amount of enjoyment out of doing it, because one has met people one would never have met before. It has widened one's life, in a way."

All in all, 2019 has been a great year for the royals. In total, the combined family have been to 3,567 engagements.

A commendable effort.

Lizzie Thomson

Lizzie Thomson is a regular contributor to woman&home, and also contributes to Metro.co.uk, Ideal Home, Culture Trip, and Evening Standard, covering all things lifestyle. 

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