ROYAL PAIN

King Pays Price for Bringing Harry Back in Devastating Poll

The public are not fooled. They know who is behind the Sussex return, and a new YouGov tracker shows what they think of it.

#3

King Charles is paying the price for bringing Harry back: that’s my conclusion on the big tracker poll released by U.K. firm YouGov on Thursday, with fieldwork carried out on October 22 and 23 among 2,116 British adults. It puts the King’s net favorability at just +24, the lowest figure recorded since he ascended the throne. Only 58 percent of Britons have a positive opinion of him. While any politician would love such numbers, for a British monarch it is a disaster. In fairness, the 70 percent he recorded in the days after his mother’s death would be hard to maintain. But by the eve of his coronation in May 2023, eight months in, he was at 59 percent. The Sussexes are paying too. Just 29 percent of Britons have a positive opinion of Harry, down four points since July, while 60 percent view him unfavorably. Meghan is at 20 percent positive and 68 percent negative, a net rating of -48, the lowest YouGov has ever recorded for her. Opinion of the couple is now less favorable than it was before their decision to return to the U.K. The poll started to be taken as recent allegations about Meghan’s father went public, so it is unclear if they affected results. Only Andrew, the worst of the worst, sits below Meghan at -85. Charles is currently on a tour of the Caribbean, where he danced in the Bahamas.

Want more royal gossip, scoops and scandal? Follow all Tom Sykes’ reporting at The Royalist on Substack or listen to The Royalist podcast on YouTube.