At 83 a tireless queen shows no sign of letting up

London: She may be approaching her 84th birthday, but the Queen is still carrying out official engagements at the rate of more than one a day.

Figures compiled by the Daily Mail suggest that she conducted 375 visits, investitures and audiences in 2009 — two decades after most people her age retired.

The number is slightly down on the 417 she performed in 2008, largely because she undertook only one overseas state visit last year rather than the normal two.

A trip to the Middle East was cancelled at the last minute so the Queen could stay in Britain to greet world leaders attending the G20 summit in London.

The dip in the number of engagements will inevitably re-ignite speculation that she is finally reining back on her official duties and even preparing to hand over some of the more strenuous ones to her grandson Prince William, 27.

William is due to undertake his first official overseas engagement on her behalf in New Zealand this month when he opens the Supreme Court building in Wellington.

But Palace officials insist the Queen is in ‘robust' health and say suggestions that she is slowly retiring from public life are a fallacy. They point out that she is already scheduled to visit Canada next June.

One said: "That's hardly the diary of someone who is looking at cutting back their overseas travel — let alone their workload generally."

Sources also stress that engagements are only part of Queen's day. The majority of her time is spent dealing with the red boxes full of official papers that pursue her across the country.

Prince Philip is still equally active, conducting around 350 public engagements last year, only marginally less than previous years, despite being bed-ridden with severe back pain for several weeks.

Princess Anne has regained her crown as the hardest working member of the Royal Family, after being pipped by Prince Charles the previous year.

Anne conducted 554 official visits in 2009, sometimes cramming in up to eight "meet and greets" in any one day — a phenomenal workload by any stretch of the imagination — to very little public acclaim.

Charles wasn't far behind with around 540 engagements while his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, clocked up 240 — her highest figure.

Camilla, who was once accused by a former aide of being "the laziest woman in Britain", has worked hard to shake off that tag.

Although she feels her role should be to provide support for her husband, she has been quietly carving out a niche for herself working with charities close to her heart such as the National Osteoporosis Society.

As always Prince Andrew is the most travelled royal in his role as Special Ambassador for Trade and Industry but he is also managing to notch up almost as many engagements a year as his elder siblings, conducting up to six or seven engagements a day when on official visits abroad.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex, who have two young children, manage to conduct around 500 engagements between them last year.