How Princess Anne’s 2024 Head Injury Impacted Her Professional Ranking Among Royals

She's been crowned as the hardest working royal for years.

For the fourth year in a row, Princess Anne has been crowned the title of the hardest working member of the British royal family—hospitalization and head injury be damned. 

So far, the Princess Royal—who is the only daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip—carried out 217 engagements in 2024, according to a new study per The Daily Express. Despite sustaining a concussion after being kicked by a horse over the summer, and subsequently having to cancel several appearances while in the hospital, Anne saw her engagement count rise by 2.4% this year when compared to 2023. In fact, she broke her own personal record, also beating both her numbers in 2022 and 2021. 

Following King Charles's cancer diagnosis in February, Anne stepped in for her older brother on numerous occasions, with November being her busiest month to date with 28 engagements taking place. However, Charles still managed to come in second place with 186 appearances in total, while the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard came in third with 126 engagements.  

Most recently, Princess Anne presented her sister-in-law Queen Camilla with an honorary doctorate degree in literature from the University of London, where Anne is also the university's chancellor. The degree honored the queen's history of supporting literary-based charities, as well as her work as patron of numerous literacy organizations—including the National Literacy Trust, First Story, Coram Beanstalk and BookTrust.

During the event, Camilla attempted to break royal protocol by allowing Anne to enter the room before her, but being the rule-abiding royal she is, Anne "smiled and politely refused."