June 21st was Prince William’s 44th birthday AND Father’s Day. On their social media, Kensington Palace released this Matt Porteous photo of William and Princess Charlotte to celebrate, with the message: “Happy birthday and Father’s Day to the best Papa in the World! We love you very much. C, G, C & L.” My first thought was… oh, William has noticed how many photos the Duchess of Sussex has posted of Prince Harry and Lili. Like, you can really tell that Lili is a daddy’s girl, and Harry barely lets Lili’s feet touch the ground. The message seems to be: “Being a girl-dad is MINE, Harold!”
This photo wasn’t the only birthday present for William. We knew it was coming and here it is: a brand new emotional-support poll. While the headline is pretty negative – support for the monarchy has dropped to a 30-year low, lmao – they made sure to say that William is still the most popular member of the family.
Public support for the Royal family is at its lowest level in more than 30 years of polling. The number of British people who still want the country to be a monarchy has dropped by 11 percentage points in the past three years, to 55 per cent.
The figure, which reflects diminishing support for the monarchy in younger age groups, is the lowest in 33 years of Ipsos polling on the Royal family.
The public reported a 69 per cent approval rating in 1993, the year after Elizabeth II had spoken of her “annus horribilis”, which marked a devastating fire at Windsor Castle and the end of three of her children’s marriages. It reached a high of 80 per cent support at the time of the late Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee, after which it dropped gradually to 60 per cent in the year before she died in 2022. In 2021, the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal was ongoing and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had undertaken their Oprah interview and Netflix documentary.
Now, six in 10 of those surveyed say the monarchy has an important role to play in the future of Britain, while 30 per cent believe it does not. The number of respondents who would prefer a republic was 27 per cent.
Six in 10 people believe the King is doing a good job, with 71 per cent reporting the same of the Prince of Wales.
The Ipsos poll of 1,062 British adults was undertaken in March 2026, shortly after the arrest of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The polling company pointed out that it has changed its methodology since June 2025, using an online random probability panel instead of a quota telephone survey, adding that “comparisons with previous waves need to be made with caution”.
The most significant fall in support has been among young people. The poll found that 33 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds support a monarchy today, compared with 74 per cent in 2013. Just over half of 35 to 54-year-olds support the Royal family as an institution, compared with 74 per cent of the over 55s.
Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK Political Research at Ipsos, said: “Ipsos’s latest research on public attitudes to the monarchy reveals an ongoing trend that the Royal family should not ignore. The monarchy still has its strengths, and King Charles and especially Prince William remain personally popular with satisfaction ratings that most politicians could only dream of. But to turn this trend around will require convincing young people in particular that the monarchy still has an important, relevant role to play in the future of the country.”
The idea of more British people thinking that William does a better job than Charles is pretty wild. Of course, the timing is important here – this poll was conducted in March, which was a pretty low point for the institution, especially as Prince Andrew’s arrest was pretty fresh, as were the revelations in the Epstein Files. But no, I don’t believe that 70% of Britain thinks that William does a good job or supports him as Scooter King. We call them emotional-support polls for a reason, because the reality never matches the numbers. If William had that kind of support, he wouldn’t be wandering past empty barricades wherever he goes, and he wouldn’t be getting booed and heckled so consistently either.
Happy birthday and Father’s Day to the best Papa in the World! We love you very much. C, G, C & L
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— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 21, 2026
Happy Birthday to The Prince of Wales!
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— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 21, 2026
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Matt Porteous for KP, Cover Images and Avalon Red.
