How Anne is propping up slimmed down monarchy: Princess Royal, 73, has ... trends now
Princess Anne has demonstrated her importance to a monarchy hit by illness by undertaking a third of all royal engagements in the first four months of this year.
The Princess Royal has been the lynchpin holding it all together while the King and the Princess of Wales have been undergoing cancer treatment, analysis of official engagements listed in the Court Circular suggests as the monarch marks the first anniversary of his Coronation.
Anne, 73, who is currently on a tour of Canada with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, has increased her already busy workload by two per cent compared to the same period last year.
She undertook 172 engagements up to the end of April, an increase of four on the first four months of 2023.
Princess Anne has demonstrated her importance to a monarchy hit by illness by undertaking a third of all royal engagements in the first four months of this year. Above: The Princess Royal attending the Battle of the Atlantic service in Victoria, Canada, on Sunday
The Princess Royal has been the lynchpin holding it all together while the King and the Princess of Wales have been undergoing cancer treatment. Above: Anne with her husband Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence in Victoria, British Columbia, yesterday
Anne has been out on duty on almost as twice as many days as any other member of the 'slimmed down' family and is one of only three of the 11 working royals to have upped their engagement tally compared to the first four months of 2023.
Two of the late Queen's cousins, the Duke of Kent, 88, and the Duke of Gloucester, 79, have also increased their number of duties from low totals last year. But the rest are doing less.
In addition to Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, while out less than last year, have been key to keeping the royal show on the road.
Patricia Treble, a Canadian journalist who has been keeping detailed records of the Court Circular since 2017, said: 'Anne alone has done 31.4 per cent of all engagements by working royals in the first third of 2024.
'Edward has done 15.3 per cent, Sophie has done 11.31 per cent. As the top three in 2024, Anne, Edward and Sophie have done 58 per cent of all engagements.'
The total number of official royal engagements has fallen by 25.6 per cent in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period last year and is down 32 per cent on 2019, the last pre-Covid year.
At 548 official duties so far, the royals are currently on track for around 1,827 engagements this year.
'That would put them back to pandemic levels, specifically the year 2021 when they did 1,883 official engagements,' Ms Treble said.
However, Buckingham Palace has said the King, who has been on light duties for much of the year, hopes to step up his public-facing duties in May and June.
So that may increase the totals significantly.
If his health remains stable, he hopes to be able to attend the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy next month and other key dates in the royal calendar, including Trooping the Colour - his official birthday parade - and Royal Ascot in June.
