Most popular royal revealed as shocking figures put formerly popular royals in the lower ranks
The most popular royal, according to a recent poll, is no surprise to royal watchers but many are surprised at Kate Middleton's rank
![Queen Elizabeth II and members of the British Royal family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour parade](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/v5bU8LKLhtrAGP6CWMJHCm-1280-80.jpg)
The most popular royal, according to a recent YouGov poll, is the one and only Princess Anne. The Princess Royal is often referred to as the most hardworking royal and is seen to exemplify that being a 'spare' needn't be a drag.
- The most popular royal, Princess Anne, has ranked above her close family members.
- Prince Harry's popularity has plummeted, which may not surprise royalists who've spoken out about his memoir Spare.
- In other royal news, Princess Margaret’s go-to dinner party game and hatred for squirrels couldn’t be more *her*.
She may not be the monarch, but she's definitely the Royal Family's popularity queen with a remarkable 72% approval rating, per a recent YouGov survey. Following in her wake are the Wales, with Prince William outranking his wife the Princess of Wales Kate Middleton by 70% to 68%.
King Charles didn't make the top three, but comes in fourth with 62% and Camilla Queen Consort comes in sixth with 46% approval rating. Although it's unclear if the latter's popularity has been affected in the wake of her step son Prince Harry's memoir Spare - there's no avoiding the claims made in its pages. Claims that are less than flattering to his step mother Camilla Parker Bowles.
The Prince alleges that Queen Camilla turned his bedroom into a dressing room after he left home, and that she courts favorable press attention via close friendships with British journalists. Despite these allegations and others made against his family, the person whose popularity has plummeted, per the poll, is the Prince himself.
Ranked third to last on the poll, Prince Harry's 24% approval sees him above his wife Meghan Markle, 22%, and Prince Andrew, 7%. Among those aged over 65, however, Prince Andrew has a higher approval rating than the Sussexes. This, even to staunch royalists, is a shocking figure in light of the scandal surrounding allegations of sexual assault made against Prince Andrew, which he denies.
Prince Harry’s heartbreaking inspiration for his book's title refers to the concept of an, “heir and a spare," which is when a second child is born as a back up in case anything happens to the family's heir to the throne. Interestingly, Princess Anne technically could be considered as a 'spare' as she was the second born child of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Despite this, the Princess has seemingly enjoyed a content life, carving out her own path in her equestrian career as well as being a working royal.
The Princess Royal is also known as the hardest working royal and highly regarded by many fans of the monarchy for her keep calm and carry on attitude. This attitude was clear when she was the first member of the Royal Family to make a public appearance after leaks from Spare set the internet on fire.
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Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.
Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.
Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.
Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.
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