The year in royal work: Foreign visits
Trips to foreign nations, realms, Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies are the focus of Day 17 of my year-end work analysis
I’m offering a year-end holiday discount of 25% on paid subscriptions to my Write Royalty newsletter. Your support means a lot to me, so I hope you’ll join and gain access to paywalled content.
In addition, after maintaining my original pricing for two years, I’m increasing up my rates a bit to CAD$6 / month or $60 / year, or the cost of a single cappuccino a month.
The year in royal work
WHO
Day 1: Princess Alexandra and the Duke of Kent
Day 2: The Duchess of Gloucester
Day 3: The Duke of Gloucester
Day 4: Princess Anne
Day 5: Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh
Day 6: Prince Edward
Day 7: Kate, Princess of Wales
Day 8: Prince William
Day 9: Queen Camilla
Day 10: King Charles III
WHAT
Day 11: Type of work
Day 12: Investitures
Day 13: Charity work
WHEN
Day 14: Months
Day 15: Days of the week
Day 16: Rhythm of the royal year
FOREIGN VISITS
I’m now starting the penultimate section of my royal work opus: WHERE royals did their work in 2024.
In particular, this post deals with trips outside the United Kingdom. And this means a bit of terminology. Some visits are official ones on behalf of the British government or the King, such as Prince William going to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and then meeting president-elect Donald Trump. Others that focus on that royal’s own patronages and charities are usually considered private, such as when Prince Edward went to Monaco and did a series of events for the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation.
Then there are the locations, which I deem “foreign” for my royal work calculations:
Realms: There are 14, excluding the U.K., which have the King as head of state. So when he is in one of those 14 realms, Charles III represents that particular nation, not the United Kingdom (yup, it’s confusing). for example, So, when King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited Australia, they did so as the King and Queen of Australia.
Overseas Territories: there are 14 such territories, which are self-governing but maintain constitutional links to the United Kingdom. Prince Edward visited three this year: St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cuhna
Crown Dependencies: There are three, each of which is self-governing and have a relationship with the Crown, not the U.K. government. They were never colonies. The three are: the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
All other nations, including those that are in the Commonwealth, such as Samoa.
In 2024, the royals went to 26 foreign nations. The top five, in terms of number of engagements completed, were:
France
Australia
Malta
Samoa
South Africa
France was the most popular nation, accounting for 61 engagements in total, thanks to it hosting the Summer Olympics and Paralympics as well as being the main site for the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The other nations in the top five are all Commonwealth ones — the King and Queen visited Australia and Samoa in October, while Prince William and Prince Edward were in South Africa, and Edward and his wife, Sophie visited Malta in October.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to WRITE ROYALTY by Patricia Treble to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.