Britons more likely to judge “Harry and Meghan” documentary as an inaccurate depiction of events than “The Crown”

• Following the release of both “The Crown” and “Harry and Meghan” on Netflix, people are more likely to see the “Harry and Meghan” docuseries as an inaccurate depiction of events (37%) than the TV show “The Crown” (28%)
• King Charles III and Prince William maintain their popularity after the release of both television programmes while favourable opinions of Prince Harry fall

New polling by Ipsos, conducted after the release of the latest season of “The Crown” and the first three episodes of “Harry and Meghan”, shows Britons are more likely to view the docuseries featuring the Duke and Duchess as an inaccurate depiction of events than “The Crown”. Just under 4 in 10 (37%) believe the “Harry and Meghan” series is very or fairly inaccurate, just under a quarter say it is accurate (23%). Meanwhile, opinion is split when it comes to judging the accuracy of “The Crown”, 28% say it is accurate, the same proportion say it is not.  In both cases, young people are more likely to believe the programmes are accurate than others (46% of 18-34s in the case of “The Crown”, 40% for “Harry and Meghan”).

The perceived impact of the two programmes on the Royal Family’s reputation also differs. While 1 in 3 (32%) say “The Crown” has made no difference to their reputation, almost a quarter think it has worsened it (23%), and only 14% believe it has had a positive impact (around 3 in 10 don’t know).  Two in four (39%) think the “Harry and Meghan” docuseries has had a negative impact on the Royals’ reputation, 24% say no difference, and 13% that it has helped (1 in 4 don’t know).  

However, general public opinion towards the core members of Royal Family is more stable – perhaps reflecting that only a minority, around 3 in 10, have been following stories about the programmes. Six in 10 say King Charles III will do a good job as King (61%), seeing no change since September and maintaining the improvement from around half in June (49%). Three-quarters believe Prince William will do a good job as King one day (74%), again seeing little change since September (72%). 

There is similar stability in general public favourability ratings.  Both the monarch and the next in line to the throne have maintained their scores from September, 69% have a favourable opinion of Prince William while 54% say the same for the King. Catherine, Princess of Wales (67% feel favourable), Anne, the Princess Royal (64%) and the Royal Family as a whole (54%) also all see no change in their positive scores. 

The two members of the Royal Family to have seen notable falls in their favourability are Prince Harry, with 30% reporting a favourable opinion, down 11ppt since September, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, now at 24% having fallen 8ppt.  In both cases this represents a return to their figures from March, though both are much more popular amongst younger people (favourability ratings of 46% and 43% respectively among 18-34 year olds).

Looking at the Monarchy as a whole, people remain more likely to think it would be worse for Britain if it was abolished (40%) than better (22%). However, we have seen a fall in the proportion who say it would be worse, from 47% in September, and an equivalent rise in those who think it would make no difference, to 29%. But, it does not look like Britons expect the monarchy to be going anywhere any time soon, as 4 in 5 Britons think we will still have a monarchy in 10 years (82%) while almost 3 in 4 (73%) say the same for 20 years and more than half expect it to still be present in 50 years (54%). 

Kelly Beaver MBE, Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK, said:

There has been a lot of talk about The Crown TV series and the Sussex’s documentary recently, and while public opinion is relatively split over the impact of the former, Britons are more likely to think “Harry and Meghan” will have a damaging effect.  
But the impact of both can be exaggerated – of course not everyone is following them, and our tracking data suggests that senior Royals such as the King and Prince and Princess of Wales are maintaining their positive favourability scores among the public. 
These programmes do though show the importance of appealing to younger people – they are less convinced of the benefits of the Monarchy and are a more receptive audience to these shows.

Technical note:

• Ipsos interviewed a representative quota sample of 1,100 adults aged 18-75 in Great Britain. Interviews took place on the online Omnibus 13th-14th December 2022. Data has been weighted to the known offline population proportions. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.