The royal family carry out hundreds of engagements every year – and there is one low-profile member who is hard at work behind the scenes despite being in her 70s
Princess Anne always tops the list of the hardest-working royal, completing 457 official royal outings in 2023, or between 12 and 14 engagements in a typical week.
But there is another member of The Firm who is also quietly but diligently plugging away behind the scenes, and there’s a chance you haven’t heard of her.
Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester is a Danish-born member of the British royals and is married to Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a grandson of King George V and the late Queen’s cousin. And at 78, she continues to represent the family by taking on a number of official duties.
Danish-born Birgitte Eva van Deurs Henriksen married Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester on 8 July 1972. The couple first met in 1966 while they were both at Cambridge, and they got engaged six years later, in February 1972.
As the New York Times reported at the time, “Prince Richard of Gloucester, 27-year‐old cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, will marry a 25-year‐old Danish secretary, Miss Birgitte van Deurs, this summer. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester announced the engagement at Kensington Palace today and declared themselves ‘simply delighted’ with the young woman their son had chosen to be his bride. She is a commoner — the daughter of a lawyer — who has studied languages in this country and has been working as a secretary in the Danish Embassy in London since 1970.”
Richard and Birgitte were married at St. Andrew’s Parish Church, Barnwell, Northamptonshire in July 1972. But their happiness was short lived; just six weeks after their wedding, the Prince’s older brother, Prince William of Gloucester, unexpectedly died in a flying accident – putting Richard in line to inherit his father’s Dukedom. So when Prince Henry, Richard’s father, died in 1972, Birgitte became the Duchess of Gloucester.
The Gloucesters, who reside at Kensington Palace, share three children – Alexander, Davina and Rose – and six grandchildren. And in June 2024, the Duchess made royal history when she joined the Order of the Garter. King Charles appointed Birgitte as a Royal Lady Companion, making her the first married-in member of the royal family – who wasn’t married to the monarch or the heir to the throne – to join the Order.
The royal family’s website notes that the Duchess of Gloucester is a full-time working member of the Royal Family, writing: “Her Royal Highness takes great pride in the work which she undertakes for her many charities and organisations, as well as her duties in support of the Monarch.”
It continues: “The Duchess of Gloucester travels extensively across the UK and overseas to undertake engagements, many of which are related to the more than 60 organisations with which she is connected, across the arts, sport, health, welfare, education and the military.”
She supports a number of different charities and organisations, ranging from the Lawn Tennis Association to the Children’s Society, the Friends of St Paul’s Cathedral to Parkinson’s UK, Hope for Youth Northern Ireland to Scottish Opera. Furthermore, “she has travelled widely, both in support of her own charities and interests, and representing The Queen. Overseas visits have taken in such diverse countries as China, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway and the Philippines”.
