The royal family | Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
When you think of royal family members at public engagements and events, who do you think attended the most affairs in 2018 on behalf of the monarchy?
We have certainly seen Meghan Markle on several tours and visits with her husband but the former actress didn’t join the family until May so only her appearances after the royal wedding count. Could she still have racked up enough to beat out the rest of the family?
Perhaps it’s Kate Middleton or Prince William? The Duchess of Cambridge did take some time off for maternity leave but she and her husband were still seen at a good number of events together and separate in 2018.
What about England’s reigning monarch? Although her husband, Prince Philip, retired from his royal duties due to his age his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, still attends many engagements on her own.
Well, the results for hardest-working royal of 2018 are in and the answer might surprise you.
Hardest-working royal of 2018
Actually, it’s none of them. This year’s hardest-working royal is Princess Anne. The queen’s only daughter has attended more engagements than any other member of the royal family.
From the start of the year to August 2018, Anne had already worked 105 days out of a possible 215. But working so many days is nothing new to her as she also topped the 2017 hardest-working list as well with 540 official duties. Same goes for 2016, when she attended a whopping 640 events.
Princess Anne | Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Even though the Princess Royal’s attends the most outings don’t expect to get a handshake from her as it is something she simply refuses to do. Her reasoning goes back to an old tradition when the royal family members did not shake hands with the crowds of people gathered to see them.
“We never shook hands. The theory was that you couldn’t shake hands with everybody, so don’t start. I kind of stick to that,” Anne said. “I think the initial concept was that it was patently absurd to start shaking hands. And it seems to me that it’s become a shaking hands exercise rather than a walkabout.”
Number of days other royals worked
The princess definitely puts other royals to shame with her work ethic especially the younger ones as it’s not them but actually her brothers who fall behind her with the number of engagements they attend. Prince Andrew had 62 working days through August while Prince Charles had 83 and Prince Edward had 88.
Princes William and Harry each only had 50. As for their wives, Kate Middleton worked 28 days. Of course, she took several months off for the birth of her third child, Prince Louis. Meghan Markle meanwhile had 11 working days down just from May to early August. Unfortunately, the 16 engagements she and Harry carried out before tying the knot did not count towards her total because at that time she wasn’t officially a royal yet.
Read more: Who Pays For the Royal Family’s Trips to Different Countries?
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