King clocks up more than 100 days of engagements in scaled-back second year
Charles had 22 formal audiences with the UK prime minister during the past year: 18 with Rishi Sunak and four with Sir Keir Starmer.
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Your support makes all the difference.The King’s second year as monarch has been less hectic than his first, with cancer treatment understandably having an impact on his schedule, though he has still undertaken dozens of visits, meetings and events.
Charles has carried out official engagements on 132 days during the past year, compared with 161 days in the previous 12 months.
The second year of his reign can be divided roughly into three sections: a full schedule during the autumn of 2023, with trips around the UK as well as to France, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, a period out of the public eye following his prostate operation in January 2024 and subsequent diagnosis of cancer, and a gradual return to regular activity from May onwards, including visits to Scotland and the Channel Islands.
The figures have been compiled by the PA news agency using the Court Circular, which is the official record of the royal family’s daily activities.
The data shows that Charles had 22 formal audiences with the UK prime minister during the past year: 18 with Rishi Sunak and four with Sir Keir Starmer.
This is only four fewer prime ministerial audiences than during his first year as King, when he held 26.
Both the first and second year of Charles’s reign have seen a change of prime minister – something not experienced by any previous UK monarch.
Liz Truss was succeeded by Rishi Sunak on October 25 2022, just 48 days after Charles became monarch on September 8, while Mr Sunak was succeeded by Sir Keir on July 5 2024.
Charles’s second year as King kicked off with a busy autumn in 2023, with trips in the UK to places including Aberdeen, Norwich, Didcot in Oxfordshire and New Malden in south-west London, besides travelling to Dubai for the UN Climate Change Conference and undertaking state visits with the Queen to France and Kenya.
He has not travelled quite so widely since beginning cancer treatment in early 2024, though in recent months he went to Normandy in France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, carried out engagements in Scotland and the Channel Islands, and visited Southport in the aftermath of the knife attack in the town that left three girls dead.
The Queen undertook trips on Charles’s behalf to the Isle of Man and Belfast in March 2024, besides representing him at the annual Commonwealth Day and Maundy Thursday church services in the same month.
But since May, the King and his wife have appeared together at a growing number of high-profile events, such as visits to the Chelsea Flower Show and Ascot Races, a trip to Cardiff to mark the 25th anniversary of the Welsh parliament, and the State Opening of Parliament
PA has classed a day with engagements as one where the monarch is recorded as undertaking at least one visit, meeting or function in an official capacity, but not other, non-official events, such as attending church in a private capacity.
Using the same criteria, the Court Circular shows the Queen carried out engagements on 106 days during the second year of her husband’s reign.
This is almost the same as the first year (104), showing she has managed to keep up a similar level of activity despite the King’s health issues.
The Court Circular also shows the King held 13 meetings of the Privy Council during his second year.
This is the body of advisers that meets regularly with the monarch to oversee the issue of royal proclamations, charters and other ceremonial matters.
Its members are mostly senior politicians past and present, though only a few serving ministers attend each session.
The council met slightly more frequently during Charles’s first year as King – 16 times – perhaps reflecting the increased amount of official business that accompanies the arrival of a new monarch.
Besides public appearances and political meetings, the King has peppered his second year with many official one-to-one audiences with leading figures from UK charities and businesses, as well as greeting ambassadors, high commissioners and dignitaries from around the world.
He has carried out these audiences for almost the whole of the year, even in the months of March and April 2024 when he was largely out of public view.