Opinion towards the royal family is largely stable in aftermath of the former Prince Andrew being stripped of his royal titles
Key takeaways
- The Prince and Princess of Wales are the most popular royals, with 74-77% having a positive opinion of them
- Britons are twice as likely to have a positive opinion of King Charles than a negative one (60% vs 31%)
- Just 19% have a positive view of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the lowest recorded by YouGov to date
- Only 3% of Britons see Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor positively, also the lowest recorded by YouGov so far
- 64% of Britons believe the UK should continue to have a monarchy, with 58% believing it is good for Britain
2025 wasn’t the easiest year for the royal family, with further allegations about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein leading to the then Prince being stripped of his royal and honorary military titles. Although the public felt that the King made the right decision in the end, most also saw him as moving too slowly.
The latest YouGov royal family favourability trackers, however, show that attitudes towards the family remain largely stable.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales continue to be the most positively viewed royals, with around three-quarters of Britons (74-77%) seeing the Waleses in a favourable light, figures largely unchanged from last October. Positivity is also high and unmoved towards Princess Anne, with 70% of the public having a good opinion of the Princess Royal.
The King remains largely popular, with six in ten Britons (60%) having a positive opinion of Charles III, roughly double the 31% who see him unfavourably, and in keeping with the 59-62% who saw him in such a favourable light over the course of 2025.
The public also tend to be fond of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, with around half of Britons (50-51%) having positive opinions of Prince Edward and his wife Sophie (compared to only 19% and 12% respectively who hold negative views).
Opinion on Queen Camilla has turned a little more negative in the last few months, with the 42% of Britons with a positive view of the Queen consort the lowest recorded by YouGov since March 2021, while the proportion with an unfavourable view of her has increased four points since October to 45%.
With the press reporting that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is set to visit the UK this summer for the first time since 2022, just 19% of Britons have a favourable view of the American princess, the lowest figure to date. Two thirds (66%) have a negative view of Prince Harry's wife.
Opinion towards the Duke of Sussex himself remains similarly negative to previous waves of the tracker, with 31% seeing Prince Harry positively and twice as many seeing him negatively (60%).
Although Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ratings do not have much further to fall, the 3% of Britons with a positive opinion of the disgraced royal is the lowest recorded by YouGov so far. Nine in ten (90%) see the former Duke of York negatively.
How do Britons feel about the monarchy, January 2026?
Attitudes towards the family and monarchy as a whole remain mostly positive, with nearly six in ten Britons (57-59%) seeing the royal family in general and the institution of the monarchy in a favourable light, though a persistent third (33-34%) see both negatively.
Half of the public (51%) feel the monarchy are good value for money, against a third (33%) who feel that the country is seeing a poor return from the Sovereign Grant. Additionally, nearly half of Britons (47%) say they are outright proud of the British monarchy, relative to just 19% who feel outright embarrassed, with a further 31% saying they are neither proud nor embarrassed of the institution.
Overall, there’s little desire to see the monarchy come to an end, with 64% of Britons believing the UK should continue to be a Kingdom, consistent with the 61-67% who have felt so throughout Charles’s reign. Around a quarter of the public (23%), though, would rather the UK had an elected head of state instead.
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Photo: Getty
