Queen and Prince Philip set a brisk pace for younger royals

They are one year older and maybe a step slower, but there's no sign the Queen and Prince Philip are about to retreat into semi-retirement anytime soon.

Figures compiled from Palace records show this most senior duo of royals are keeping up their end of the work when it comes to royal engagements.

By definition, these can be anything from awarding medals to attending luncheons to visiting a seniors residence to presiding over a charity to meeting heads of state, at home or abroad.

At 91, and despite some ill health, the Duke of Edinburgh is still setting a blazing pace, attending 325 engagements in 2012. The Queen, at 86, is no slouch at this game either, with 425 dates, 50 more than the previous year and all of them in the UK.

The numbers are compiled each year by Tim O'Donovan, who unofficially keeps track of royal actitivites via the Court Circular and published them in the Times.

The top royal in this department is once again the Queen's eldest son, Prince Charles, at 592 engagements, including 112 overseas. His sister, Anne, is often overlooked, but she always proves to be one of the busiest royals, racking up 566 engagements.

Most of the attention, naturally, has been on the younger generation of royals, but they still have a ways to go to match their elders. That's to be expected, since both William and Harry are members of the military and as such are restricted in the number of royal engagements they perform.

The Duchess of Cambridge, in her first full year as a member of the Royal Family, clocked in with an impressive 111 engagements, including 36 overseas. Don't expect her match that in 2013, with an heir on the way that's due in late June or July.

As far as the Queen's daughters-in-law, Sophie, the Countess of Wessex (right) was the most impressive, with 324 engagements, 155 of them outside the country. Her husband, Prince Edward, had 431 total engagements.

Here's a rundown of some of the senior royals at work over the last three years:

ROYAL ENGAGEMENTS
	2012	2011	2010
Prince Charles	592	601	585
Princess Anne	566	568	514
Prince Andrew	436	455	539
Queen Elizabeth	425	370	444
Prince Philip	325	330	356
Duchess of Cornwall	276	250	243
Duchess of Cambridge	111	34	n/a
Prince William	88	90	73
Prince Harry	61	16	53
(Figures not verified by Buckingham Palace.)

Comments

[Shaheda Pabani]

I's not daughters in laws BUT daughters in law

[Fiona Munroe]

It's daughter(s) in law!!! Not daughter in laws!!!