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

‘Hereditary monarch and heir in unearned privilege shocker! More at 10!’

Yes, it’s an easy life, but someone has to do it. I’d love their wealth but I’m very introverted so would hate to do what they do, even if it isn’t exactly spending 12 hours a day down t’pit. I can’t get worked up about it. Imagine letting other people live rent free in your head like this.

You don’t mention the work the Royal Family carries out not in the public arena and do not come under the heading of Engagements - for example correspondence, liaising with their charities

The bulk of their 'charitable work' revolves around their own sometimes questionable charities.

Probably explains why some 76% of those charities with a patronage don't see 'their' royal's boat from one year's end to the next.

The CC is a most revealing document. The sainted, staggering-under- the-burden-of-duty Anne has even had her birthday listed on it as an engagement.

A lot of what they do seems to involve things they love such as sport. Being royal clearly isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m not any kind of royalist. I’d be happier to see them all go, but I wouldn’t want to be royal for love or money.

I wouldn’t want to be royal for love or money.

They are independently wealthy enough off the back of generations of taxpayers to walk away any time they choose.

The odd thing is so few choose to.

Be very interested to learn which charities you consider “questionable” that have a member of the RF as a patron. You may of course be thinking of the Princes Trust which has certainly had a couple of issues recently but during the course of the charity’s lifetime has done some amazing work. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

It's just the way it is op. There's no point in comparing your work history/situation with theirs, because they will never experience life like you do, or vice versa. At some point you would probably be happier if you just accept it and try not to let it bother you.

You may of course be thinking of the Princes Trust which has certainly had a couple of issues recently but during the course of the charity’s lifetime has done some amazing work.

Well if the now monarch accepting plastic bags full of millions leaves nothing to see maybe the goings on at the now defunct Pitch@ Palace might spark your interest.

Some of the royal family are probably still motivated by the traditional values of the monarchy - a sense of duty, the monarchy over family/feelings, service to the country, "divinely appointed" to rule, etc. That's very out-of-step with modern thought, which is a small part of why Meghan and Harry didn't fit into royal life.

I'm sure others in the family are there just for the perks.

It's going to be interesting to see how things evolve with this monarch and the next (if there is a next).

If Charles holds onto power for as long as Ma and Pa then support for the monarchy will dwindle to nothing. He should do a stint and hand over to William within five years because neither Charles or Camilla have the right sort of star appeal or charisma.

I don’t think you can really use 2022 figures accurately. There was a month of mourning to consider, and the jubilee.

Do we really care? They're all doing jobs as they're constantly in the news.

@purpledalmation I know you do not.

You need a new hobby.
Have you considered cycling?

The Monarch has the top job and the rest of the royal family who carry out public engagements are a bonus.
The heir and their children are not required to work 60 hour weeks though they might be doing charity work meetings etc that we do not see.
The cost to the nation is similar regardless as a percentage of the profits of the crown estates and actually more if working longer hours out in public due to increased security I imagine.

and you are wasting your hard earned leisure time on shite like this?

I think more transparency would be a good thing, but they will also run their foundations various, which I imagine is more hours than the visits.

I’m no great fan (or a fan at all), but surely this is over simplifying, he can’t just show up without being aware of where he’s going, who they are, what their cause is, what his role in visiting is? And presumably there’s an agenda set for those visits in the sense of planning who they visit and why etc etc. It really isn’t going to be just literally the time he’s there.

they will also run their foundations various

It really isn’t going to be just literally the time he’s there.

He won't be doing his own research on 'engagements' or running the day to day operations in the foundations.

There are lackeys for that.

"Camilla planted trees - 30 minutes"

But when you factor in digging the hole, mixing in some horse shit into the soil, filling up the hole, hammering in the post and tying it on, then watering it, It's much more labour intensive than it might sound.

His mum died last year he took time off they all did

@FlyOnAWing - just quickly to say - I see your point but KC & POW cannot retire at 67 - so I understand your point - they are insulated from financial problems , but they can't step away at 65 , 67 , whatever. I suspect they have given W&K a bye on this to give them more chance to bring up their children whilst they can & relatively young.

I do think a 30 min engagement will take so much more prep etc than the actual engagement .

In no way am I saying the RF aren't privileged - of course they are . Other worries , but money worries not one.

I wouldn't swap though.

OP you are just calculating what work they do based on the court circular. There is an awful lot more things that we don’t see, like dealing with correspondence etc.

I am firmly against the monarchy. If we had a referendum tomorrow I would vote to abolish them. But I wouldn’t vote on the basis of personal dislike of any of them, especially not the idea that any of them might be lazy. There is a lot more to their work than we can see and it starts when they are children and goes on until they die. If (and I hope this does happen) the monarchy didn’t exist I think we would still need somebody to do a lot of their work ie. Being figureheads and representing charities etc. It serves a useful social function.

We really know very little about any member of the RF but most of them strike me as quite pleasant and well meaning people. I don’t understand why you would pick on them as individuals. The whole system of monarchy is ridiculously outdated and wrong. But that’s the system. It’s not the fault of any individual person.

Yes I am a Republican but I agree with this.

One meeting isn’t just the hour you spend doing that, it’s the planning and briefing beforehand, the dressing and hairdresser (especially if you are a female member of RF but both sexes have to look appropriate and immaculate) the travel and then presumably you might have to stop for your entourage or security to eat or drink if you are travelling in a group, then on return meeting with staff and dictating thank you letters or follow up actions.

Yes I agree with BillNighysWife too. I am fairly ambivalent about the RF. I don't really care enough to actively campaign for their abolition or anything but if we became a Republic I would be happy enough. I am certainly not a fan. (Though I'd still rather have them than say, President Boris!) But I don't believe for a moment that the CC represents all the work they do. And travel is relevant. Ok, not many people get paid for their commute but most people whose jobs involve travel between different places during their working day do. When I was working, if my day involved work on both sites in our organisation or travel off site, then that time was definitely part of my working day. I didn't enjoy days when I had multiple short meetings in different places at all and found it much more tiring than doing a longer day in one place. I know they don't drive themselves so it won't be as tiring, but I bet it is fairly wearing all the same, especially for the older royals. And it's still time when they are "on duty" and can't do whatever they want, so I'd call that working time.
I don't imagine that their working week is anything like most regular jobs but I think its over simplistic to just add up those engagements and think that that is the totality of their work.

Okaaaaay, so if it is such a doss of a life, why did Meghan (not born into the life) say that the garden party she was attending was boring, and then say, “I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this” on the tour of Australia?

Frankly I couldn’t cope with meeting members of the public week in, week out, year in, year out and forever have an “interested” face on, and I am a friendly person. If you’re not sociable or do not like being near sick/poor/dull people it must be torture.

The life of the rf is duty and that is a heavy lifelong burden. If it comes with a dose of privilege, then good luck to them. There’s no way 99% of us could hack it.