Prince William Overtakes Kate Middleton Again as Britain’s Most Popular Royal, New YouGov Poll Shows

LONDON — Prince William has once again been named Britain’s most popular royal, edging out his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, in the latest YouGov favourability tracker, extending a pattern that has now held for more than a year.

The survey, conducted among 2,063 adults in Great Britain on July 21-22, found that 76% of respondents held a positive view of the Prince of Wales, compared with 74% for Catherine. The two-point gap, while narrow, marks the continuation of a shift that began in August 2025, when William first overtook his wife in the rankings after she had spent years as the public’s clear favorite. Catherine last held the top spot in February 2025.

A narrow but consistent gap

Despite trailing her husband in overall favorability, Catherine continues to hold an edge in a different measure: how few people view her unfavorably. Only 13% of respondents expressed a negative opinion of the princess, compared with 16% who viewed William unfavorably, suggesting that while slightly fewer Britons rate her as a clear favorite, she also draws less outright criticism than her husband.

That dynamic has defined the Waleses’ standing in recent YouGov trackers, with both figures consistently drawing support from roughly three-quarters of the British public, a level that has remained largely unchanged over the past several years even as the broader royal family has weathered periods of turbulence.

Where the rest of the family stands

Princess Anne, long regarded as one of the most consistently well-regarded working royals, came in third with a 70% favorability rating, according to the July tracker. King Charles III followed in fourth place, with 62% of respondents holding a positive view of the monarch, against 31% who viewed him unfavorably. YouGov noted that the king’s rating has remained relatively steady, with 59% to 63% of Britons expressing a favorable opinion of him over the past two years.

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, rounded out the upper tier of the rankings, with 53% and 51% favorability respectively. Queen Camilla registered a more mixed standing, with 43% of respondents viewing her positively and 44% holding a negative opinion, according to the tracker.

Harry and Meghan remain unpopular, though Harry’s numbers tick up

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, continue to rank among the least popular working or formerly working members of the royal family, though the polling suggests a modest shift in sentiment toward Harry over the past year. According to YouGov, 33% of Britons now hold a favorable view of Harry, up six points since May 2025, while the share holding a negative opinion of him has fallen five points over the same period to 58%.

Meghan’s standing has shown less movement. Just 22% of respondents said they viewed the Duchess of Sussex positively, compared with 65% who held an unfavorable opinion of her, figures that have remained largely consistent across recent waves of YouGov’s tracker.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who lost his Prince and Duke of York titles amid ongoing scandal, remains the most unpopular member of the extended royal family by a wide margin, with public backing in the low single digits in recent surveys. The fallout from his case has also weighed on his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, both of whom now register more unfavorable than favorable opinions among the public for the first time in recent tracking.

A stable picture for the monarchy overall

Beyond individual rankings, YouGov’s broader tracking shows that support for the monarchy as an institution has remained fairly steady throughout Charles’ reign, with close to two-thirds of Britons continuing to favor keeping the royal family, a figure that has shown little movement despite the various controversies that have touched different branches of the family in recent years.

The consistency in William and Catherine’s numbers stands in contrast to the more volatile ratings tracked for other senior royals. Charles’ favorability, while currently at the higher end of its range, has swung more noticeably over the course of his reign than that of his son and daughter-in-law, reflecting the way public sentiment toward the monarch has shifted alongside major moments such as his cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

A generational divide

YouGov’s polling has also highlighted a consistent generational split in attitudes toward Harry and Meghan, with younger Britons expressing significantly more favorable views of the couple than older generations. In earlier waves of the tracker, YouGov found that only 19% of Britons over 65 held a positive view of Harry, compared with 35% of those aged 18 to 24, while just 10% of the oldest respondents viewed Meghan favorably against 31% of the youngest age group.

No similarly pronounced generational divide has emerged in attitudes toward William and Catherine, whose favorability has remained comparatively high and stable across most age brackets, according to YouGov’s tracking data.

What the numbers suggest going forward

The latest results reinforce a picture that has held steady since William first passed his wife in the rankings nearly a year ago: the Prince and Princess of Wales remain, by a wide margin, the most consistently popular working members of the royal family, even as sentiment toward other figures — including the king, Harry and Meghan — continues to shift with each new wave of polling.

YouGov conducts its royal favourability tracker on a regular basis, typically surveying more than 2,000 adults in Great Britain, and the rankings have become a closely watched barometer of public sentiment toward individual royals as the family navigates a period that has included Charles’ health treatment, William and Catherine’s expanded public roles, and the continued fallout from Harry and Meghan’s departure from official royal duties in 2020.