HOW PRINCESS ANNE IS STILL THE 'HARDEST WORKING ROYAL'
Princess Anne has accounted for a quarter of all royal engagements in the first six months of the year, according to new analysis for MailOnline.
The Princess Royal's recuperation from a head injury suspected to have come from a horse at the weekend will now mean an enforced lay-off for Britain's busiest royal.
There will also be another dip in the family's tally of official duties in a year in which both the King and the Princess of Wales have been undergoing cancer treatment.
Anne, 73, is expected to have at least the rest of this week off and has postponed a planned official visit to Canada after suffering concussion and head injuries.
She is thought to have been injured by a horse's leg or head as she walked around her Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire on Sunday evening.
The King's sister is understood to have spent a second night Southmead Hospital in Bristol after apparently suffering memory loss as a result of the incident.
In May, MailOnline revealed how Anne had kept the show on the road for the House of Windsor in the first third of the year.
At that stage, she had accounted for one in three of all engagements among the 11 working members of the family who undertake official duties at taxpayers' expense.
That proportion has slightly fallen after a return to public duties for the King and Prince William, who took time off to look after his wife and children when Kate underwent abdominal surgery in January.
But Anne is still way ahead of any other family member and one of only four royals who have done more than 100 engagements this year.
So far she has completed 252 engagements, accounting for 26 per cent of the family's total. The next busiest is Prince Edward on 143, then the King on 121, followed by Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, on 118.
What is also clear is that Anne, more than anyone, is the royal going outside the palaces to travel the country and meet the public.
The King, who has had to be careful to avoid compromising his immune system, has undertaken only 19 per cent of his engagements outside royal residences, while 84 per cent of Anne's have been away from the palaces.
Patricia Treble, who compiled the detailed analysis for Mail Online, said of Anne: 'Her overall pace for the first six months of the year hasn't slackened from 2023.
'In the first six months of 2023 she did 255 engagements; to date in 2024 she's done 252.
'With only four royals doing more than 100 engagements so far this year, her absence from the Court Circular will quickly show up in the data.
'This year her contribution has been larger than usual, as the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales have undertaken far fewer engagements than usual.
'As a result, the Princess Royal's share of the overall royal workload in 2024 is seven percentage points higher than her share in 2023 (19 per cent).'
As of June 23, the Royal Family had undertaken 952 engagements recorded in the Court Circular.
But they hit that number of engagements on May 21 last year so are a month behind.
May - normally one of the peak periods in the calendar for the monarchy - was by far the busiest month of the year for the Royal Family.
This is even though numerous engagements had to be cancelled because of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision on May 22 to call a general election for July 4.
This year, the royals did 271 engagements in May, nearly at the level of the 294 they did in 2023.
The total is also much higher than the monthly average of 136 for the rest of 2024.
The King meanwhile has been slowly ramping up his workload. But his 121 tally as of June 23 is still only half of the 242 he did in the first six months of 2023.
In the first quarter of the year, Charles III did an average of 12 engagements per month. In April, he did 16. In May, he did 51 - 38 of which were audiences or meetings etc. To June 23, he has done 21.
Yesterday, Anne was visited in hospital by her daughter Zara Tindall.
The Olympic horsewoman and her brother, Peter Phillips, were on the estate when Anne was injured but it is not known who raised the alarm.
Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence visited the hospital for lunch earlier in the day and said the princess 'is fine'. As he left the entrance, Anne's husband said: 'She's doing fine, slow but sure.'
It was the first update on Anne's condition since Monday when Buckingham Palace said she had suffered minor injuries to her head and concussion.
Asked if he had taken anything for the princess, Sir Tim said: 'Just a few little treats from home.'
He was wearing an open-collar shirt and blazer, and carrying what appeared to be a blue cool bag.
It is believed Anne, a skilled horsewoman who competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, was kicked by a horse while walking at her Gatcombe Park estate on Sunday.
Emergency services and an air ambulance attended, and she was treated at the scene in Gloucestershire.
The princess was transferred to Southmead Hospital by road for tests, treatment and observation. She was accompanied by Sir Tim, her second husband, whom she married in 1992.
On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sent her their best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Monday: 'The Princess Royal has sustained minor injuries and concussion following an incident on the Gatcombe Park estate yesterday evening.
'Her Royal Highness remains in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, as a precautionary measure for observation and is expected to make a full and swift recovery.
'The King has been kept closely informed and joins the whole royal family in sending his fondest love and well-wishes to the princess for a speedy recovery.'
Although the cause of the injuries is unconfirmed, Anne's medical team have said her head injuries are consistent with a potential impact from a horse's head or legs.
It is understood the princess was walking within the protected perimeter of Gatcombe Park when the incident happened and no other individual is believed to have been involved.
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