The second-oldest working member of the Royal Family outperformed Prince William in royal duties in 2025.

Prince William completed 202 engagements in 2025 (Image: WPA POOL)

The second-oldest working member of the Royal Family, The Duke of Gloucester, 81, outperformed Prince William in royal duties in 2025. Prince Richard carried out 212 official engagements throughout 2025, surpassing Prince William’s tally of 202.

Prince Richard conducted his duties without much public attention, as it is the younger generation of royals and senior working royals that usually attract the spotlight. The Duke of Gloucester is the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin and a full-time working member of the Royal Family.

He attends national and international events in support of The King and his duties as Head of State, as well as undertaking extensive public duties and engagements every year ,reflecting his own interests and charities. Many of the Duke’s Patronages are related to architecture and conservation.Meanwhile, Princess Catherine returned to public duties with a total of 68 engagements following her announcement early in the year that she was in remission from cancer. Princess Catherine spoke about her recovery during an engagement in July 2025 to Colchester Hospital in Essex.

She said: “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment. Treatment’s done, then it’s like, ‘I can crack on, get back to normal,’ but actually, the phase afterwards is really, really difficult.”

She added: “You’re not necessarily under the clinical team any longer, but you’re not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to.”

The King also worked hard in 2025, completing 533 engagements despite receiving weekly cancer treatment throughout the year.

His total exceeded that of Princess Anne, who recorded 478 engagements, though she worked across more individual days at 186.

Duke of Gloucester attends a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey in 2025 (Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

The 10 working royals collectively undertook 2,459 engagements in 2025, representing a 23 per cent rise from the 2,001 recorded the previous year when both the King and Princess of Wales received cancer diagnoses.

Nearly all working royals expanded their schedules significantly, with increases ranging from Princess Anne’s 10.39 per cent to the Princess of Wales’s 423 per cent, the latter reflecting her near-complete withdrawal during chemotherapy in 2024.