Hardest-working royal family member is named – but person in fifth place will surprise you

King Charles was revealed today as the hardest-working royal of the past decade – completing nearly 5,000 engagements in that span, just ahead of Princess Anne.

The king, who spent most of the past decade as heir to the throne, carried out 4,854 engagements between 2013 and 2022 – compared to his sister Anne’s 4,693.

In third place was their brother Prince Edward with 3,155 – followed by the Queen with 2,721 and Andrew with 2,289. The Duke of York’s fifth-place ranking is quite a surprise given that he stepped down from royal duties four years ago, in 2019.

Sophie (2,253) and Camilla (2,084) were just behind, with Sophie stepping down last year to complete her most assignments since 2014 as the Queen’s health deteriorated.

King Charles III and Princess Anne have completed the most commissions of any royal in the past decade. Pictured they arrive for a church service in Sandringham in January

But while Prince William (1,704) and Kate (1,024) are now two of the most visually prominent royals, they actually performed fewer commissions than the lesser-known Duke of Gloucester (2,056) and Duchess of Gloucester (1,031), respectively.

The Duke of Kent has also made a huge contribution to royal life, despite not often being as noticed as others – he has carried out 1,538 commissions in a decade.

Following him in the rankings was Prince Philip (1,057), whose last engagement was in August 2017, almost four years before his death in April 2021. Philip has performed more engagements in the past decade than Harry (1,009) and Kate.

Meghan is at the bottom of the list, with 179 engagements in her short royal life before she and Harry stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to North America.

Commenting on the numbers, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: ‘The assignments of members of the royal family are far too often taken for granted. In fact, a bond with a member of the royal family has a very special cachet, which greatly enhances the profile of an institution.

“These figures show how hard-working, over a decade up to 2022, both King Charles and Princess Anne have been in the number of engagements they have completed. It also shows that Edward and Sophie – the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – work extremely hard.

But he added that it was “difficult” to simply measure the royal family’s contribution in numbers.

Mr Fitzwilliams continued: ‘William and Catherine, in a list compiled from 2013, two years after they got married, have done much less numerically but have done much for the causes they are attached to and gives their profiles a huge boost as the’ the world’s most glamorous royal couple.

“Examples include the Earthshot Prize, United for Wildlife, and Catherine’s work for the Center for Early Childhood.”

He added that Buckingham Palace has announced a review of patronages formerly held by the late Queen, as well as those of Charles and Camilla.

Prince Harry and Meghan have carried out 1,009 and 179 engagements respectively in the past ten years. The pair stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to North America

The Duke of Gloucester (right) has completed more engagements than Prince William (left) in the last decade. They are pictured during the Queen’s funeral procession last September

Tim O’Donovan (pictured in 2019), a retired insurance broker, has spent every day for the past 40 years meticulously charting the appointments of the British Royal Family with pencil and paper

Mr Fitzwilliams continued: ‘There has been much talk of a slimmed down monarchy and it is striking that several of the royals on this list are of advanced age.

The ‘crazy’ man who compiles annual lists of royal engagements

The count of each duty performed by each royal is compiled each year by royal observer Tim O’Donovan using the Court Circular, the official daily list of royal engagements.

He writes down all agreements, gradually makes a quarterly total and at the end of the year sends an annual summary with the results in a letter to the editor of The Times newspaper.

The retired insurance broker – who admits his own family thinks he is “a bit crazy” – has meticulously tabulated assignments every day for the past 40 years with pencil and paper.

He told the Daily Mail in 2019: ‘It’s not a competition. I just think it’s important that people know how much the royal family does.’

Mr O’Donovan of Datchet, Berkshire, came up with the idea in 1978 after seeing a letter in a newspaper from someone who had added up all the names in all the birth records for that year to compile a list of the most popular the ones.

In 1982 he received a “friendly” letter from the Queen’s press secretary, noting that his figures had been taken out of context by some newspapers.

In the late 1980s he spoke to the then Dean of Windsor, Michael Mann, who told him he had been asked to speak and said, “The Palace doesn’t want you to keep doing this.”

But Mr O’Donovan then arranged a meeting with the Queen’s private secretary, Sir William Heseltine, and his deputy, Robert (now Lord) Fellowes, and succeeded in convincing them that he should proceed.

“The future clearly belongs to George, Charlotte and Louis, the children of William and Catherine.

There’s no denying that Meghan, who performed just 179 engagements on behalf of the royal family, and Harry, who completed 1,009 in that decade, have complained to the world about how they feel they were treated as senior working royals.

Still, Meghan in particular has contributed little. So when they boasted, “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal,” they were certainly being selfish.”

The data was compiled by the new Royals section of the Mail from figures compiled each year by famed royal guard Tim O’Donovan of Datchet in Berkshire.

The retired insurance broker uses the Court Circular, the official daily list of royal engagements, before recording all engagements, making quarterly totals and then an annual summary of his results in a letter to The times.

Mr O’Donovan is always keen to point out that his work should not be turned into a ‘league table’ of individual royal achievements, writing in his most recent letter to the newspaper in December 2022: ‘All assignments differ in time and content. There’s also the preparation time, whether it’s a visit, an inauguration or a speech.”

Mail Royals aggregated its totals from 2013 to 2022 to round out the ten-year analysis period, while also going back a few more years to 2010 to get a better sense of how engagements for each royal have changed.

Last year’s data showed that Charles completed the most assignments with 497, followed by Anne with 474. Sophie was third with 280 with Edward just behind with 276.

The Queen completed 120 last year before her death on September 8 – still a remarkable number for a 96-year-old, but significantly lower than her busiest year since records began, which was 1979 when she performed an astonishing 932.

Charles’s busiest year since 2010 was 2011, when he completed 601 engagements – the most of any royal ever in the past 13 years.

The highest number performed by Anne was 568, also in 2011. Andrew’s highest total was 529 in 2010 – which has only been beaten by Charles and Anne during that 13-year span.

Edward’s highest total since 2010 was 463 in 2018, while Sophie’s was 324 in 2012. Camilla’s highest was 276 in 2012, while William’s was 220 in both 2018 and 2019 and Kate’s was 140 in 2016.

It comes as Buckingham Palace conducts a review of royal patronages as the royal family continues to adjust to a new era without the Queen and prepares for Charles’ coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6.