Dear loyal and devoted GLAMOUR subjects, the Coronation Weekend is here and that means one thing. Well, yes, a long weekend, but also: the return of our right Royal Survey.
Earlier last year, to commemorate the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we canvassed your opinions on everything royal, from Megxit to Diana, from republicanism to racism. The results were fascinating, with mixed opinions on everything except, rather fittingly, Queen Elizabeth herself.
Now, as her eldest son and heir ascends the throne, we took a temperate reset. With the British monarchy going through one of its most seismic changes in recent history; what do you, our beloved GLAMOUR readers really think of the royal family?
Let’s start with some news that our new King may find encouraging. It seems Charles has surprisingly won over the Gen Z and millennial generation. When we asked, just last year, if Charles should be our next monarch, just 37% of Gen Z and millennial GLAMOUR readers agreed. Poll results this year show a significant shift- with 64% believing he is the right man for the job. In more shocking news, this upwards tick has not extended to the new Prince and Princess of Wales. In 2022, 57% of these generational cohorts thought William and Catherine should succeed to the throne. This has dropped to just 34% this year.
It seems, if there are any royals who really do connect with GLAMOUR readers, it is the women. When asked to rank the royals in order of preference, once again, the most popular regal family member proved to be the late Queen Elizabeth II, who took up 43% of the ‘top spot’ vote, had 70% of you including her in your top three and a record 0% of you placing her last. This is hardly surprising as the death of one of our longest standing monarchs was an undeniably momentous event last year, uniting us in observing both the absurd (hello, The Queue) and the inarguably grand solemnity of her funeral procession. Indeed, over half of you said you were upset at her death and 85% of you agreed that history will remember her as one of the greatest monarchs.
These royal titles can get a little complicated…
If Queen Elizabeth II’s legacy has influenced the poll, it seems her one-time daughter in law’s imprint on our cultural thinking is yet to fade. The late Queen was followed in popularity, in another continuance from our survey last year, by Princess Diana, with 28% of you giving her that number one spot. GLAMOUR readers are, evidentially, still ardent Diana stans (especially Gen Z, 45% of whom named her as their number one). Her daughter in laws followed, with Catherine and Meghan taking 10% and 5% respectively. Our new Queen, Camilla, did not even make the top five women royals; beaten to that spot by her sister in law Princess Anne. Yet if the future of the monarchy is in good hands, our readers believe this custodian to be our new Princess of Wales, as 71% of you think Catherine is a good role model for women. She even overtook her husband in our rankings, knocking the heir to the throne down to fourth place.
So, if Diana reigns, what to make of our new Queen: Camilla? Her historic unpopularity has, shockingly, not shifted, with 29% of you strongly disagreeing that she should be given the title of Queen as she languishes in last place in our poll of most popular royals: only 1% of you gave her that coveted top spot. One would have assumed the controversy surrounding Camilla, whose affair with Charles dates back to the 1980s, would have died down, perhaps even have been softened by her favourable portrayal by Emerald Fennel in the latest season of The Crown. Apparently not.
One controversy which is definitely still front and centre, is Megxit – so where do we stand on this, a year on from our last survey? When we last polled you, the Oprah interview had been the most blazing admission from Montecito. This has subsequently, of course, been followed by both the couple’s Netflix documentary and Prince Harry’s blistering bestseller of a memoir. While almost a third of you (32%) feel sympathetic towards the Duke and Duchess of Sussex following the release of both (and these feelings were highest amongst our LGBTQIA+ readers (51%) and those aged 25-34 (40%), and lowest amongst our 55+ audience (18%)) and 48% of our LGBTQIA+ readers believe the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are role models for change, 35% of our overall readership strongly disagree with that statement and 29% believe the Duchess of Sussex should NOT attend the coronation.
So what of the monarchy’s actual continuance? We may have a new King on the throne, but the institution’s future has perhaps never felt more tenuous. Last year, before the passing of the Queen, 22% of you thought the monarchy should NOT continue after her death, while 35% of you expressed your full support of the British monarchy. Despite much cultural discussion about what this changing of the guard may mean for the monarchy’s future, it seems your sentiment towards the royal family and the Commonwealth has generally remained the same since we last checked in with you. Now, 37% of you are in full support of the British monarchy (an upwards swing of 2%) and 28% (up by 6%) believe the institution should be abolished.
Issues which remain significant are the family’s funding and their ties to slavery and accusations of institutional racism. You remain largely against taxpayer’s money going to the royals: 56% of you (up by 1% from last year) don’t believe UK taxpayers money should go towards the British monarchy and well over half of you (53%) believe the royal family should apologise for past their substantial involvement in slavery and colonialism. This was mostly pushed by our Gen Z LGBTQIA+ readers who were significantly more likely to say this (70% and 81% respectively).
And so, will many of you be celebrating the coronation this weekend? While 26% of you claimed to not care at all about the event, 31% of you said it is very likely you will watch or participate in coronation celebrations or activities. So, happy and glorious it seems we all shall be, whether we are commemorating a monarchical moment in history, or are merely grateful for a long weekend.
