How Anne is propping up slimmed down monarchy: Princess Royal, 73, has increased her workload to take on 172 engagements so far in 2024 – as Charles and Kate battle cancer

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.

Prince William, 41, has been working reduced hours to concentrate on looking after Kate and their children, first while she recovered from major abdominal surgery and then while she has been receiving chemotherapy for an undisclosed form of cancer. 

Her health problems have meant Kate, 42, has been unable to undertake any official duties so far this year.

William has carried out 28 engagements so far in 2024, down from 50 in the same period last year.  

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.

King Charles and the Duchess of Windsor enjoy themselves at the Royal Windsor Horse Show on Friday

In October he hopes to travel to Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and tour Australia.  

Ms Treble, author of the Write Royalty newsletter on Substack and a regular contributor to television coverage of the royals in Canada, added: ‘Charles and Anne have historically done many more engagements than the other working royals. 

‘(Charles has been no. 1 in three of the past four years, according to my statistics). Last year, they did an additional 150+ engagements than third place Edward.

‘So Charles’s reduced schedule is what is driving a big chunk of the lower work statistics, in general. 

‘No surprise there, at all to anyone who looks at the data. Looking at post-pandemic data, he did 137 engagements in each of 2022 and 2023. This year, he did 49. So that’s a decrease of 88 engagements.’

Anne, who is returning from Canada this week, has her next engagement in London.

On Wednesday she will launch the Randeree End of Life Care Programme at Leighton House in Kensington, West London.

William has carried out 28 engagements so far in 2024, down from 50 in the same period last year. Above: William attending Aston Villa’s Europa Conference League semi-final at Villa Park on May 2

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. Above: The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh at the Royal Windsor Horse Show at the weekend

The following day, the princess will head to Portsmouth Naval Base for a series of engagements.

Later in the week she travels to Manchester to visit the victims’ service at Greater Manchester Police’s headquarters. 

The Duke of Edinburgh has two events in London lined up this week, including a dinner in his role as Chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation on Wednesday.

On the same day, the Duchess of Edinburgh – who is joining her husband at the dinner – is attending a reception at The Beaumont Hotel in West London.

On Thursday, the pair are attending separate events in London, before Edward hands out gold awards for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme at Buckingham Palace the following day.   

The Duke of Gloucester and guest attend ‘Palace Of Palms: A Night Celebrating Heritage At Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’ on May 02, 2024

It comes after a new poll named the Princess of Wales as the UK’s favourite royal, whilst Prince William’s popularity marginally dropped.

The survey found 63 per cent of Brits consider Kate, 42, ‘favourable’ – a slight increase from the Prince of Wales’ score of 62 per cent. 

However, Harry and Meghan scored considerably lower in comparison.

Only 29 per cent of participants deemed Prince Harry ‘favourable’, while Meghan’s score sat one per cent lower at 28 per cent.

While William managed to impress 33 per cent of participants as ‘strongly favourable’, Harry appealed to only nine per cent in the same category – the same score achieved by Meghan.

The Duke of York came in as the UK’s least favourite royal, with just 14 per cent of participants regarding him as ‘favourable’.