Half of Britons expect Prince Charles to do a good job as King

New Ipsos research, conducted on 24-25 March, shows almost half of Britons believe Prince Charles will do a good job as King once he ascends the throne, while 19% expect him to do a bad job. This comes as he sees an increase in those who view him favourably since 2018, 43% now have a favourable opinion of him, up 11 percentage points in the last four years.

Faith in his ability is strongest amongst his own age group, 59% of 55-75-year olds say he will do a good job, falling to 38% of 16-34s. Those who voted for the Conservative party in 2019 are also more likely to be hopeful for his reign, 66% say he will be a good King, compared with 42% of Labour voters.

Despite a plurality expecting him to do a good job and increasing favourability, there is still support for Prince Charles to stand aside to allow Prince William to become the next monarch. Four in 10 (42%) say the Prince of Wales should stand aside while a quarter (24%) say he should not. Three in 10 (29%) have no strong feelings either way. 

Looking at the British Monarchy as a whole, more than 4 in 10 believe it would be worse for Britain if the Monarchy was abolished (44%), twice as many as the 22% who think it would be better. A quarter believe it would make no difference. 

Opinion is more split when it comes to younger Britons, 33% say abolishing the Monarchy would be worse for Britain while 29% say it would be better. 

When considering the future, many Britons expect to see the Monarchy last a long time, however looking further into the future appears to cast some doubts. Three-quarters (75%) expect Britain will have a monarchy in 10 years, 68% believe we will have one in 20 years but even fewer expect to see a monarchy in Britain in 50 years (45%). 

Britons are most likely to have favourable opinions towards the Queen (69%), Prince William (64%) and the Duchess of Cambridge (60%). Half of Britons have a favourable opinion to the Royal Family as a whole. As mentioned, 43% have a favourable opinion of Prince Charles, while 36% feel the same for Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

Two years after they stepped down as key working members of the Royal Family, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, have seen worsening favourability since the time of their wedding. Now, 3 in 10 (30%) are favourable towards Prince Harry, falling 35 percentage points from 2018 just before their wedding, while a quarter (24%) are favourable towards Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, falling 16 points, as half have an unfavourable opinion of her. Seven in 10 (69%) now have an unfavourable opinion of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos, said:

At the moment only a minority of people believe Britain would be better off without the Monarchy, and the popularity of the Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge remains strong.  Looking to the future, half of Britons have faith in Prince Charles as a future King and more people view him in a positive light than four years ago. However, with the popularity of Prince William not far behind that of the Queen, Britons also wonder whether Prince Charles should step aside in favour of his eldest son. 
But their actions now are still important for the longer-term future of the Royal Family.  Less than half are convinced we will still have a monarchy in 50 years’ time, and convincing younger people of their relevance remains as important as ever.  

Note to Editors

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 2,055 British adults aged 16-75 online on 24th and 25th March 2022 using the Ipsos Digital Omnibus. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.