This Surprising Royal Earned the ‘Hardest Working’ Title for 2025—But I Have Questions

The tally is based on a count of official outings from the beginning of the year through December 18. Per The Mirror, who got the exclusive on the Crown Circular’s results, the king carried out a whopping 532 engagements, despite his weekly cancer treatment, with Princess Anne coming in a close second with 478 official duties in 2025.

But hear me out for one minute. With only 365 days in a year—and, count ‘em, 532 engagements—the royal math isn’t totally math-ing for me. King Charles did do quite a bit in 2025, traveling to Italy and Canada for royal tours, hosting everyone from French President Macron to German President Steinmeier for state visits and more. But he also took some much-deserved PTO, too. So, how did he carry out more engagements than days in the year? (This applies to Anne, too.)

I’ll admit that, post-Spare, I still have Prince Harry’s words in my head. He referred to the Court Circular’s annual record of “official engagements” as a “sinister document.” He continued: “Certain family members had become obsessed, fervishly striving to have the highest number of official engagements recorded in the Circular each year, no matter what, and they’d succeeded largely by including things that weren’t, strictly speaking, engagements, recording public interactions that were mere blips...”

That’s not meant to impune the work of the king—or any royal work—that has been done. It’s more that with such a data-driven document, it might be helpful to also see a list of each and every engagement (or royal handshake) that counts.

Back to the numbers: Beyond Charles and Anne (who came in second after many, many years at the top), the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Edward) was next with 313 engagements, followed by his wife, Duchess Sophie, who took on 235 engagements herself. Queen Camilla was fifth with 228 engagements, which leaves Prince William and Kate Middleton (who was still taking it easy following her cancer treatment) coming in last with a respective 202 and 68 royal engagements. Altogether, the working royals carried out 2,248 engagements—up 22 percent from 2024—and an impressive feat.

At the end of the day, what matters is that so many important causes are made visible through the support of the royal family. But if someone is going to keep track, a bit more transparency that speaks to quality, and not just quantity, may be required.