Each year The Earl of Wessex takes on a full range of engagements in support of The Queen and on behalf of the charities and organisations with which he is associated.
There is no such thing as a typical day for His Royal Highness, and his calendar of engagements will differ according to where he is in the UK or overseas.
Summary of a recent week in the UK:
Monday and Tuesday
Two day visit to Somerset and Devon.
Day One: Open the Museum of Somerset, visit the Glass Bridge and Langford Budville Jubilee Hall, visit Roadford Lake Country Park, attend a Weavers, Fullers and Shearman Livery Dinner.
Day Two: Open a primary school, open the Royal Albert Museum.
Wednesday
Morning: In the office; deal with emails, including two forewords to be completed, agree the outline of future visits, sign congratulations letters, read briefing papers, prepare two speech notes for future evening engagements, receive outgoing and incoming Commanding Officers of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.
Afternoon: Depart with Private Secretary (self drive) for Lord’s Cricket Ground to attend European Real Tennis Finals and Dinner,.
Thursday
Morning: Walk with Private Secretary to Ritz Hotel for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Business Leaders Breakfast, receive Assistant Chief of Defence Staff for an update on Reserve Forces matter, receive new Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion The Rifles for an update on Regimental matters.
Afternoon: Chair The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Development Committee.
Evening: Attend a Rifles Concert at the Royal Albert Hall with The Countess of Wessex.
Friday
Attend Harvest Service in Windsor before driving to City Airport to depart for Luxembourg to represent The Queen at a Royal Wedding; return home to Bagshot Park at the weekend.
Outline of a typical short overseas programme:
The Earl and Countess of Wessex visited Prague from 12-14 March 2013 to help reinforce the bilateral relationship between the UK and the Czech Republic, promote the United Kingdom overseas and The Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The first engagement for The Earl and Countess was a call on the newly inaugurated President Zenman at Prague Castle. During the meeting with The President and his wife, Their Royal Highnesses presented a letter of congratulations on his election from The Queen and were treated to a rare glimpse inside Prague Castle.
The Earl and Countess went on to Lobkowicz Castle to view the Lobkowicz collection. The collection includes the famous Antonio Canaletto painting ‘The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day’ which inspired the Thames River Pageant celebrating The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. That evening Their Royal Highnesses joined senior Czech public figures at a dinner hosted by Her Majesty's Ambassador.
The programme also included events promoting British food, drink and high end retail as part of the launch of the British Embassy’s 2013 GREAT Britain campaign. The GREAT campaign promotes the United Kingdom as a place to visit, invest and do business in.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex visited a school and free time facility for disabled children, where, as well as seeing some of the 200 clients that benefit from the preschool and school facilities, rehabilitation centre and sports club, they met some Paralympians who are former pupils of the school. They also met staff and residents at the Sue Ryder Care home, established in 1998 to provide dignified care to elderly frail people.
Their Royal Highnesses’ presence at a rehearsal of 'The King’s Speech' at a leading repertory theatre in the city centre highlighted Czech interest in British Royal heritage and Czech artistic tradition.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award events included a Gold award ceremony at the beautiful Cerninsky Palace, a visit to The British Prague School who run a very successful DofE programme, and a gala dinner to promote the Award in the Czech Republic.
