Royal Watch News

Prince William named most popular royal

Nov 20, 2012, 12:02 GMT

Prince William

Britain's Prince William has been named the most popular royal.

The second-in-line to the throne beat off competition from his wife, Duchess Catherine, his brother Prince Harry and his grandmother Queen Elizabeth to top the poll conducted by King's College London/Ipsos MORI after amassing 62 per cent of the vote.

Elizabeth followed closely behind in the survey - which asked, 'Which two or three members of the Royal family do you like the most?' - with 48 per cent, putting her in second place, and Harry received a 36 per cent backing.

The Duchess of Cambridge - who was known as Kate Middleton prior to her and William's nuptials last year - managed 23 per cent of the vote, narrowly beating Charles with 21 per cent.

Princess Anne and Prince Philip were sixth and seventh in the top 10 with 14 and 11 per cent respectively, while Prince Andrew and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were tied on a lowly two per cent score followed by one per cent for Prince Edward.

Roger Mortimore, Professor of public opinion and political analysis at King's College, believes the poll could indicate a large chunk of the public would rather William become king instead of Charles because he is 'good looking and popular'.

He told the London Evening Standard newspaper: 'A lot of people would like the idea of William succeeding straight away. He is young and good looking and popular.

'I think young people can see something of themselves in William and Kate. They can see the monarchy looking more modern than it did beforehand.'

While William is the most popular royal, 90 per cent of Britons believe his grandmother is doing a great job on the throne and 79 per cent of those surveyed are in favour of the monarchy.

1. Prince William

2. Queen Elizabeth

3. Prince Harry

4. Duchess of Cambridge

5. Prince Charles

6. Princess Anne

7. Prince Philip

8. Prince Andrew

=. Duchess of Cornwall

10. Prince Edward

11. None