Half of Britons believe Princess Diana would have made a better Queen than Queen Camilla, new exclusive polling for MailOnline revealed today.
In further bad news for the King’s wife, a survey published this morning shows less than a quarter think better of her since she married Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, in 2005.
Her late Majesty remains the most popular and influential royal, a year to the day since she died at Balmoral sparking mourning in Britain, the Commonwealth and around the world.
The comprehensive new poll on the state of the monarchy carried out for MailOnline by Deltapoll asked more than 2,000 people how they view the Royal Family, its members and the work the institution does in the UK and abroad.
Just 12 per cent of those surveyed thought Camilla would be a better Queen than Prince William and Prince Harry’s late mother, who was married to the King from 1981 to 1996.
Half of Britons believe Princess Diana would have made a better Queen than Queen Camilla (pictured with King Charles III on Coronation Day in May 2023), new exclusive polling for MailOnline revealed today
Half admitted their opinion of Camilla has stayed the same since her wedding to Charles in 2005 – while 17 per cent said their views had got worse.
The survey also shows the public believes Prince William and his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, should take on more of the King and Queen Consort’s duties.
It comes as Charles is increasingly viewed as a caretaker monarch with many Britons hoping the Prince of Wales will become King before his father dies.
The number of people who believe Charles should remain King until he dies is at 41 per cent – whereas the number of people who say William should become king before he dies or immediately is at 45 per cent.
Meanwhile, the majority of people backed the monarchy over a republic and are also strongly in favour of the King speaking out publicly on issues that ‘matter to him’.
More than half the country now believe that William makes a ‘positive contribution to the UK’ and is on an upwards curve.
At 54 per cent it is now to a level just below that of his beloved grandmother, who even a year on from her death, still leads the field on 63 per cent.
Diana, Princess of Wales is on 49 per cent, Princess Catherine is on 47 per cent ahead of Charles III on 39 per cent.
Just 12 per cent of those surveyed thought Camilla would be a better Queen than Prince William and Prince Harry’s late mother (pictured), who was married to the King from 1981 to 1996
The popularity rankings then go from Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Queen Camilla, the Queen Consort and Zara Tindall at the top to Prince Harry, Peter Phillips, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Andrew at the bottom.
Britons remain critical of the Sussexes and the Duke of York, with the vast majority believing they should be booted out of the line of succession and cut off financially by the King and the British taxpayer.
Sixty one per cent of respondents are in favour of Prince Harry being stripped of his position given his departure as a working royal and litany of attacks on his family and the institution. A slight improvement from the same question in March.
A decisive 77 per cent of those polled said they would like to see disgraced Prince Andrew similarly deposed.
Meanwhile, 60 per cent of respondents said they believed King Charles should continue to speak out on issues and current affairs that matter to him. 28 per cent said he should not.
The public’s views appear to be clearer on whether the Sussexes are entitled to taxpayer-funded costs.
Just 15 per cent said they should be, with an overwhelming majority of 74 per cent saying they should pay for everything themselves.
- Deltapoll interviewed 2,009 British adults online between September 1 and 4 2023. The data has been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.
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