One does like Zoom! Royals carried out half their public engagements via video call last year

Prince William and the Queen favoured Zoom chats the most

The Queen
(Image credit: Getty)

For most of us, the pandemic turned our worlds upside down – working from home and having to deal with wifi issues while trying to talk to colleagues on Zoom – and it was exactly the same for the royals.

·         Data from the Royal court has shown that some of the royals cut their in-
         person public engagements down due to Coronavirus. 

·         The statistics show that The Queen and also Prince William, both carried out
         nearly half their public engagements via video link or on the telephone.

·         In other Royal News,  Prince Charles warns about cancer becoming the forgotten 'C'.

Buckingham Palace handout picture of Queen Elizabeth II, who is in residence at Windsor Castle, speaking by video link during a virtual diplomatic audience with His Excellency Dr. Ferenc Kumin, Ambassador of Hungary, and his wife, Viktoria, who were at London's Buckingham Palace where such audiences are traditionally held.

(Image credit: Buckingham Palace/PA Wire/PA Images)

We're used to seeing them out and about at various public engagements and interacting with royal fans - but the pandemic last year meant that the royals had to jump on Zoom, just like us.

Now, data that the Daily Mail has collected, via the Royal Court, has shown exactly how many times royals, such as Kate Middleton and Prince Charles, have had to rely on modern technology to carry out their royal duties.

The Queen and Prince William relied on video services, such as Zoom, the most - as the data shows they did almost half their public appearances online. Notable online engagements for the Queen include when she spoke to three winners of the Commonwealth Points of Light award to celebrate their achievements in November last year.

Prince Charles and Camilla visit Salisbury Cathedral

(Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo / Contributor)

Prince William followed in his grandma's footsteps by completing almost half of his 181 royal engagements via Zoom. While wife Kate Middleton completed 50 public appearances via video link - including the findings of her recent Early Years project.

However, some of the royals were more adamant about getting away from their computers and meeting people in person. Prince Charles only carried out a third of his engagements online, preferring instead to attend over 150 of his royal duties in person - but socially distanced and wearing a mask.

While Sophie, Countess of Wessex also got on board when it came to video calls, completing 45 out of her 78 appearances online. Princess Anne also made a massive 95 virtual appearances. That is a lot of Zoom calls!

Hopefully this year, with the promise of the vaccine, we'll see the royals out and about more. 

Sarah Finley

Sarah is a freelance journalist - writing about the royals and celebrities for Woman & Home, fitness and beauty for the Evening Standard and how the world of work has changed due to the pandemic for the BBC. 

 

She also covers a variety of other subjects and loves interviewing leaders and innovators in the beauty, travel and wellness worlds for numerous UK and overseas publications. 

 

As a journalist, she has written thousands of profile pieces - interviewing CEOs, real-life case studies and celebrities - interviewing everyone from Emma Bunton to the founder of Headspace.