A brand new emotional-support poll came out this week for the Windsors, but there’s a wrinkle. It turns out that when the British public sees more of their supposed golden couple, the less the public likes them. The Prince and Princess of Wales have been working their fingers to the nub with, on average, three grueling events a week for less than two months. British YouGov respondents were like: wait, Prince William and Kate aren’t that great, actually. Princess Anne now tops the emotional-support polling stakes.
Princess Anne is the most popular British royal, according to a new poll by YouGov, taking over the top spot from Prince William and Princess Kate.
Princess Anne was liked by 67% of respondents and disliked by 7%, with a net approval rating of 60%, according to Newsweek. Earlier this year, Anne had a 55% overall approval rating. Princess Anne beat Princess Kate and Prince William by four and 10 points, respectively.
At the start of the year, Princess Kate had an overall approval score of 65%, with 75% of people favoring her and 10% disapproving. In the most recent poll, her score fell to 56%, with 64% of people favoring her and 8% disapproving.
Prince William followed a similar pattern. At the start of the year, 74% of people approved of the prince, and 9% disapproved. His approval score also dipped, with 62% approval and 12% disapproval, leaving him at a 50% total approval rating. Notably, all three have higher approval than disapproval ratings.
Popularity polls like those measured by YouGov matter as the royal family works to curry favor with new generations and preserve its legacy. YouGov reports nationally representative popularity scores across a wide range of topics and issues by analyzing millions of public responses, according to its website.
It’s just funny. The trend lines never favor any of the left-behinds, even in low-stakes popularity polls and likely-manipulated data. If you take these polls seriously, you’ve got to be worried about the fact that people like William and Kate less the more they see of them. You’ve got to be worried about the fact that William and Kate’s polling numbers are never higher when people forget they exist. Anyway, congrats to Anne, I guess. The best of a bad lot.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- The Princess Royal attending the Defender Burghley Horse Trials at Burghley House Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: Stamford, United Kingdom When: 06 Sep 2026 Credit: Joe Giddens/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025,Image: 974325849, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- Their Majesties The King and Queen, accompanied by The Prince and Princess of Wales, The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attended the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey. Prince Albert of Monaco greets Commonwealth Secretary General Shirley Botchwey,Image: 1081463086, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Arthur Edwards/Avalon
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- The Princess Royal speaks to guests during a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London. Picture date: Wednesday May 6, 2026.,Image: 1096939283, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- The Princess Royal visits a resettlement village at the Halo Trust site in Muhamalai during day two of her visit to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Sri Lanka. Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal Where: Sri Lanka When: 11 Jan 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess Royal in the stables during a visit to the South African Riding School for Disabled Association (SARDA) while on her two-day to trip to South Africa. Featuring: Princess Anne Where: South Africa When: 21 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Royal family on the balcony during Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William of Wales, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh, Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Princee Edward Duke of Kent, Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester, Brigitte Duchess of Gloucester Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The state funeral of King Harald of Norway held at the Domkirke Oslo Church in Oslo. The Norwegian King passed away on the 28th of August 2026. Featuring: Prince William of Wales, Princess Anne, Princess Royal Where: Oslo, Norway When: 09 Sep 2026 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- The state funeral of King Harald of Norway held at the Domkirke Oslo Church in Oslo. The Norwegian King passed away on the 28th of August 2026. Featuring: Emperor Akishino Naruhito, Empress Kiko Masako, Prince William of Wales, Princess Anne, Princess Royal Where: Oslo, Norway When: 09 Sep 2026 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
The keens have to do more surprise visits now before vacation time
That’s unfortunate. But since Ukrain’s drones hit russian data centers, a lot of trolls lost their jobs. And Kensington Palace their most important supporters…
The secret to Anne’s enduring popularity is that she doesn’t really care what people think. Paradoxical, I know. LOL.
She doesn’t flaunt her scandals, she dresses with panache, and she reminds the old-timers of Phillip. She also puts in the hours. But she’s a rude old bitch.
@Puffed that’s a spot on assessment.
Since the monarchy itself is becoming more unpopular every time it is polled, especially with young people, how can individual royals have popularity numbers this high? This poll is very fishy. Disapproval ratings in the single digits? I suspect they’re only polling devoted monarchists.
I wonder if they are only polling people who are generally in support of the monarchy. Or only counting those results. like if the first question is, do you support the monarchy in general and then they ask about specific royals if the first answer is yes, and those are the results we hear about.
I think that’s exactly 💯 what they do. If you’re trying for a certain outcome in polling, it’s very easy to do.
And why do they keep andrew on the survey.
KP can’t be happy about these numbers. At their most visible William and and Kate are less popular.
Yikes yeah that’s rlly the rub isn’t it.
LOLOLOLOLOL
That’s a really big drop in popularity numbers for Will.
Sorry, but given the revelation about how horribly rude Anne was to Charles Spencer (and is known for this rudeness) this just seems like another sign that the monarchy is rotten to the core.
Anne definitely has a reputation for being rude. Depending on who is describing her, sometimes she’s “no nonsense and to the point” and sometimes she’s “incredibly rude.”
but her approval ratings in general (not just this one poll) show that people don’t especially care because she shows up to 500 events a year. We’ve long said that working regularly and pulling in Anne like numbers would erase a lot of the criticism re: W&K and they just refuse to care. Even Charles, with as awful a person as he is – how many times a week do WE say here on CB “dogshit father, but he was a good prince of wales who actually worked” or something like that??
William is having a rough week LOL.
First the crowds greeting the Sussexes in Nottingham, now this.
Fortunately he only cares about Aston Villa.