Alongside the QEII death-anniversary articles, we’re also getting a lot of thinkpieces about King Charles’s first year as monarch. A few days ago, I read a really scathing piece by royal historian Clive Irving about how Charles is basically doing everything wrong, especially when it comes to money and democracy (you can read the piece here – I’m not covering it because it’s way too complicated). This one from the Telegraph is much more mild, it’s just a comparison piece between QEII’s first year as monarch and Charles’s first year as monarch. While Charles worked more than his mother in their respective first years, it’s also worth noting that Charles worked a lot more as Prince of Wales. And the new PoW is one of the laziest people out there, so… good for them.

The King has worked for more days in his first year as monarch than his mother did after her accession in 1952, new analysis has revealed. In his first 12 months as King, Charles has clocked up a total of 161 days during which he undertook official engagements, which is four more when compared with Elizabeth II’s total during her first year on the throne.

Since becoming King on Sept 8 last year, he has also travelled to all four nations of the UK and attended dozens of official functions. The late Queen almost matched Charles, having undertaken 157 days of engagements in her first 12 months on the throne, though she had a lighter workload and fewer visits to begin with.

However, the analysis from issues of the Court Circular, the official record of the Royal family’s daily activities, has shown that the King has not quite equalled the pace set by his grandfather. In comparison with Charles, George VI managed 183 days of engagements in his first year on the throne. The data also shows that while all three monarchs undertook common engagements, such as Royal Ascot and garden parties, there were also striking differences that reflect more modern times and attitudes. For example, George VI undertook far more meetings and audiences with Government ministers than his daughter and grandson, showing his close interest in affairs of state and politics. They outstrip him, however, when it comes to audiences held with prime ministers. The late Queen held 27 audiences with Winston Churchill in the 12 months after becoming the monarch in February 1952.

[From The Telegraph]

The Telegraph goes on and on with the comparing-and-contrasting, like QEII’s first year wasn’t 1952-53 and she was a 25-year-old mother being told what to do by a bunch of ancient Tories. It’s remarkable that she was able to travel as much as she did, given the logistics of national and international travel less than a decade after the end of WWII. Something which has surprised me about Charles’s first year is how little he has traveled, and his failure to prioritize traveling to his Commonwealth “realms” in the first year. That was originally part of Charles’s extensive plans for his first year as monarch – to travel to (at least) Canada, Australia, New Zealand and more. The man couldn’t even make it to France in his first year (because the Frenchies threatened him with the guillotine).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.