Court Circular - Reality

[FlyOnAWing]

Court Circular goes up to the 10th of March and records royal engagements. Number of engagements are reported on and the annual number announced every year. So in 2022 Charles did 181 engagements. But what do engagements look like? Below are the engagements for the main Royals for the last 2 days available. During this time Charles did 11 engagements in two days. His average number of engagements in one month is 15. So one more day and Charles will have done as many engagements as he does in a month. He is the second hardest working Royal.

Last year William had 121 engagements, a monthly average of 10 engagements. In these two days he did 4 engagements at less than 2 hours work each day. He only has to work another three days in March to hit his annual average engagements.

10th March:
William: Attended Official Opening of the Gates of Temple Bar - about an hours work
Received Hannah Jones - 20 minutes work
Camilla: Visited ITM Power plc - about an hours work.
Charles attended the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal - this is just listening to music
At that event was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant - 20 minutes

9th March:
Charles visited Ashridge House, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and planted a tree - about an hour
His Excellency the Hon. Philip Goff was received in audience by The King today upon his appointment as High Commissioner for New Zealand in London - max 20 mins
Mrs. Goff was also received by His Majesty - max 20 mins
His Excellency the Hon. Stephen Smith was received in audience by The King upon his appointment as High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Australia in London - max 20 mins
Ms. Jane Seymour was also received by His Majesty - max 20 mins
The King received Addresses from Privileged Bodies to which His Majesty was graciously pleased to make reply - 20 mins
King held a Reception at Buckingham Palace - max 1 hour
King visited the Animal and Plant Health Agency, - 1 hour
His Majesty received briefings on the work of the Agency and visited the Avian Influenza Virology High Containment Laboratory and the Genome Mapping Laboratory, before visiting the Library and meeting members of staff and scientists. - 1 hour

Camilla planted trees - 30 minutes
William and Kate - visited Hayes Muslim Centre - 1 hour
Were received by Deputy Lieutenant - 20 minutes

Did you type all that out OP??!!

Yes I did.

Its not 30 mins or 60 mins though is it? It's travel, small talk with people, then the act that they were there to do etc....... then more small talk and then more travel. I wouldn't want their life even with all the money.

@FlyOnAWing - I see what you are saying here and I am not necessarily defending how hard they work , but what you have included seems to be the actual engagement which does not include travel time or briefings. Not saying you are wrong but a 20 min engagement I am pretty sure will take research and travel - so the 20 mins they turn up is not all the work which has had to go into it.

I say this ( and anyone contradict me ) not as an ardent Royalist but just to say a 20 / 30 minute appointment does not reflect the actual time they have taken behind the scenes. Just as if I had to give a 30 min presentation , that has taken me a lot more time to prepare for ( probably a rubbish comparison but you see my point. )

According to Republic the Palace has officially confirmed that being received by engagements last a maximum of 20 minutes and visits unless a concert or similar is maximum of an hour. Diaries allow a certain time located to different types of engagements.

But I don’t get paid for travel costs and getting ready or have a clothing allowance for my job so I’m not sure why that should be taken into consideration.
lots of people have to travel for work and would actually work on their way to the meeting etc.
someone else will do the research and present it for them and they will just read over it. I can’t consider this a hard days work.

@BasiliskStare Most visits and engagements take place close to where they are living. If they do not, they create an official tour and do lots of engagements in say a 2 or 3 day tour.
Preparation will be minimal. 5-10 minutes briefing for each engagement would cut it. They just need to know who they are meeting, and any relevant questions to ask. I have written a briefing for visits like this. It is not rocket science.

Kate will spend much longer getting ready than anything else. The men have it easier as will take far less time to get ready.

Would you like them to do a shift "down pit" ? you seem shocked and surprised that there work involves meeting people and ribbon cutting !

There is the standard of personal presentation necessary- suit fittings, etc. I know for a bloke it's a lot less, but Kate for example probably has to spend a significant amount of time on grooming and wardrobe management.

I’m by no means a royalist but I don’t imagine that the things you’ve suggested just take 20 mins at a time to complete. I imagine there will be travelling time and preparation/briefings at a minimum to be added.

The events themselves may not be overly taxing on the face of it but imagine that every time you do meet you have to be conscious of how you look, what you say, how you behave etc. And they are figureheads who are, for the most part, advertising (the country, the charity, the event). Do you feel the same way about any celebrity who is paid to star in an advert?

I was struck during all of the events for the Queen’s death last year, that many things were very “choreographed” and there must have been some rehearsals going on behind the scenes.

William to hit his monthly average has to do a maximum of 2 hours engagements 5 days a month. Please do not pretend that he spends the rest of a normal working month in preparation. Do not insult our intelligence.

I agree. And if you are driven, you don’t have to worry about parking, or getting a ticket, or stopping off at the supermarket to get something in for tea , or worrying about the dog not getting a walk, or the breakfast washing up still being in the sink when you get home and what if it rains because you put some washing on the line after you changed the bed linen, and have you remembered to bring the dry cleaning ticket you left on the fridge.

And it is not about being a Royalist or Monarchist. It is just being aware of the reality.
And some of them do a lot of fun events - attending sporting events, or other fun things most of us would love to do.

Yes,, Royal family are privileged it's not a shocker !

It is an exceptional lifestyle but in a very small way I can relate. In my job I have to travel nationally and internationally and represent my organisation. I also have to receive people to my organisation and represent them well. I have to perform the whole time in the way that is expected from my employer. It's bloody hard work being "on" the whole time, a PA and a chauffeur would help, but I can imagine, with media attention, and massive expectations, etc., it must be fairly exhausting to keep up the image and do all the niceties all the time. At least out of normal work hours my performance ends. I guess they're "on" every time they leave the confines of their home. No money or fancy lifestyle would pay me to do that.

According to Google Maps, Ashridge House is a 1hr 45 minute drive from Buckingham palace. So that's 3.5 hours of travelling just for one engagement.

And if I have to travel somewhere that isn't my contracted place of work, then my travel time is counted as working hours.

They don't live at Buckingham Palace.

My google says Charles did 507 engagements last year, not the 181 you are claiming.

Though indeed somewhere else says 181.

And remember if it is a way they fly by helicopter which cuts the time down.

It is far more likely they were at Windsor Castle which is officially the Kings residence. It is about 40-50 minutes drive to Ashridge House from there, about 20-25 minutes by helicopter. No longer than most people's commute to work.

Did anyone go by helicopter to Ashridge House

Charles did 181 engagements in 2022.
people.com/royals/hardest-working-royal-2022-princess-anne/

In 2021 he did 335 in 2021, 227 in person. 2021 was the year of phone calls being counted as an engagement.
www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10347825/Royal-engagements-2021-revealed.html

@Coxspurplepippin It may surprise you that I do not know the weekly flight details of the Royal helicopters. A pity as I am sure it would make very interesting reading, for one ,Royal in particular.

I won't, because he probably doesn't. But I expect he does other stuff - working on his Earthshot thingy for example.