The Princess of Wales shouldn’t be seen as ‘not working hard’ because she is ‘trying to raise our future King’, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden has told Palace Confidential.

It comes after an analysis of public events and official meetings by the Sunday Telegraph showed Princess Anne, 73, was the hardest working member of the British Royal Family this year, carrying out 457 royal engagements, 32 more than the King.

Charles, 75, ranked in second place, with 425 engagements, while his wife Queen Camilla, 76, came in fourth with 233. Prince William and Kate, both 41, undertook 172 and 128 engagements respectively.

The Princess’ workload recently came under fire in Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame, in which he branded her ‘technically a part-time working royal’.

Speaking on the Mail+’s weekly talk show, Mr Eden said: ‘There’s an element of truth in that in the sense that they want to spend more time with their children.

The Princess of Wales shouldn’t be seen as ‘not working hard’ because she is ‘trying to raise our future King’, the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden has told Palace Confidential. Pictured, Kate and Prince George in September 2022

‘Catherine is trying to raise our future King [Prince George], and the children, it’s a very important job so it shouldn’t be seen as not working hard. She’s doing that in addition to engagements. So you would always expect someone like Princess Anne to do more.’

The Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English added: ‘The Prince and Princess of Wales, they are always a bit low down and I think this highlights the balance that they are trying to find, which is, they also want to focus on a smaller number of charities and get more intimately involved in those charities. That does mean less public engagements.

‘Queen Elizabeth was always of the opinion that you have to be seen to be believed, royalty has to be seen to be believed, and I think that highlights… questions might rise, are they getting that balance right?

‘They’ve also made very clear that their other really big job is bringing their family up and being good parents.

‘That’s what we saw in that lovely video of the three children going to the baby bank, is actually they’re bringing up three really happy, well-adjusted kids who are comfortable enough with the spotlight on them without being overexposed to it. So I think those numbers to reflect that balance they’re trying to find.’

According to the analysis, the Duke of Edinburgh was third with 297 engagements, with the majority of day-to-day public commitments carried out by royals well into or approaching retirement.

Harry and Meghan are no longer part of the royal schedule and the Prince and Princess of Wales have focused on fewer patronages, to highlight issues close to their hearts.

Meanwhile, King Charles is refusing to let himself be emotionally blackmailed by Prince Harry over the royal race row after Mr Scobie released his book Endgame.

 

Speaking on the Mail+’s weekly talk show, Mr Eden (pictured) said: ‘There’s an element of truth in that in the sense that they want to spend more time with their children’

A Dutch version of the book had to be hastily pulled from shelves after it revealed the names of the two members of the royal family accused of raising ‘concerns’ over Archie’s skin colour.

Sources close to the King, who Scobie accuses alongside the Princess of Wales of discussing Archie’s skin colour, have said he is ‘not concerned’ at being named and is instead ‘full of energy’.

They told the Sun King Charles has informed friends he will ‘not be emotionally blackmailed by his own son’.

It comes as Dutch publishers hit back at Mr Scobie after he blamed them for the error which led to the two names being revealed.

The royal family and the Sussexes have so far remained silent on the book’s content.

Mr Scobie has long been seen as Harry and Meghan’s preferred royal journalist, but it is understood they deny having any role in briefing him for Endgame.

In a potential olive branch Prince Harry recently phoned his father on his birthday from his home in California.