It’s not just the British weather that’s growing colder, as it seems the U.K. public’s fondness for the Royal Family is turning decidedly chilly this winter season. The latest stats about the Royals’ popularity indicates some surprising changes in the people’s opinions towards them, even Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, who recently received a boost of support during her cancer treatment.
The princess confirmed she had got the all-clear from her doctors back in September, and it seems that was enough for people’s sympathies to start to run dry. The most recent Royal Family power rankings are in and, surprisingly, they see something of a downturn in support for Kate in comparison to the last poll from September. Prince William, on the other hand, has nothing to worry about.
Kate’s popularity dips in latest Royal Family rankings, even as William takes the crown (uh, not literally)
As per the latest figures from Ipsos, almost all of the Royals have seen their popularity plummet since the last favorability rankings in September. Of the core four senior Royals, Queen Camilla suffered the biggest drop, going from a 41% favorability rating in September to 35% as of November. Similarly, fourth place holder King Charles lost five points, with only 51% currently having a favorable view of the monarch.
Princess Anne came in third (even though she herself is down seven percent from last time), with Kate Middleton in the silver medal spot. This means she’s still in the same place as in September, but her overall score is lower. 64% said they have a favorable view of the princess, whereas it was 66% last time. It’s not all doom and gloom for the Wales household, though, as William managed to retain exactly the same rating as the previous poll.
The future king was the only major Royal whose popularity hasn’t dimmed over the past couple of months, with his 65% score staying steady. What that means with Kate’s slight diminishing return, however, is that he now takes the crown — figuratively speaking, calm down, Charles — to become the U.K.’s most popular Royal for the time being. We can only speculate how much his recent adoption of a designer beard, leading to new nicknames such as “Prince Will-Yum” and “His Royal Hotness,” helped his chances.
A similar story plays out for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, albeit it on the other end of the poll — which derived data from over 1,000 Britons aged 18-34. Harry actually earned a two-point boost from September, but this still left him languishing at seventh place with just 30% favorability. The Duchess of Sussex fared even worse, losing a point from last time to sport a score of 20%. At least she’s got double the rating of the least popular Royal, however. Unsurprisingly, this remains Prince Andrew, who has managed to become even less liked, slipping from 11% in September to 10% in the November poll.
As for Kate, the Princess of Wales seems to have some big plans this Christmas season, so maybe that will help boost her numbers in time for the next round.