Prince Harry outs the royal family’s ‘feverish’ obsession behind closed doors

The royal family are well known for their competitive nature, from the banning of Monopoly due to major rows through to healthy sibling rivalry when it comes to sports.  There’s one surprising thing that the royals “obsess” and compete ferociously over behind closed doors, however. 

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry revealed all, explaining that his family is fiercely competitive about who does the most royal engagements, which get recorded in an online diary called the Court Circular. He penned: “Though none of us ever spoke about the Court Circular directly, or mentioned it by name, that only created more tension under the surface, which built invisibly as the last day of the calendar year approached. 

“Certain family members had become obsessed, feverishly striving to have the highest number of official engagements recorded in the Circular each year, no matter what, and they’d succeeded largely by including things that weren’t, strictly speaking, engagements.”

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King Charles is notorious for his regimented work ethic, which sometimes can come at a detriment to his family life. “The man never stops,” Charles’ son Prince William has admitted in a documentary. “I mean when we were kids there was bags and bags and bags of work that the office just sent to him. We could barely even get to his desk to say goodnight to him.”

Who is the hardest-working royal?

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, often gets referred to as the hardest-working royal as she frequently racks up the most royal engagements each year, travelling up and down the country for various tours, banquets and shows. However, in 2025 it was, in fact, her brother, King Charles, who swiped the top spot. 

Charles clocked up a total of 532 engagements last year, which was 50 more than his sister Anne, according to research conducted by royal expert Patricia Treble for The Mirror, which included engagements up until 18 December.

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In 2025, Princess Kate was the lowest-ranked working royal when it came to engagements, but that was due to her cancer diagnosis and her choosing to take time off from her duties. 

This year, the Princess of Wales has been on top form, back to her radiant self while attending many important engagements on behalf of the monarch and she even underwent her first overseas trip since her treatment, when she travelled to Italy in May.