Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s popularity in the UK has plummeted

A surprising new survey has shown that it will be more difficult than ever for Prince Harry to return to his old life: he has gone from being adored to not being loved.

2020 has been a year of graphics: terrifying spikes in the graphics on Covid-19; charts showing the wild swings of the world stock markets; and almost minute-by-minute charts plotting the chances of Donald Trump and his quirky wraparound toupee remaining in the White House.

For the royal family, it has been no different.

For years, no, decades, the charts that have charted the popularity of the British monarchy and its various star players barely registered a tremor. The queen was loved, Harry adored, William managed to engender a reasonable amount of respect, and there was a benign tolerance for Prince Charles, a plant talker and tampon fan. Nothing has changed much.

Like so many things, this year’s turmoil and uproar have put an end to what was, in retrospect, a lovely sadness. On the same day after Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, spectacularly announced that they would be stepping down as full-time senior members of the royal family on January 8, UK pollsters have been regularly polling the British for their views on the situation.

On Thursday, YouGov, the nation’s market research firm, released the latest set of numbers on how hoi polloi view various RHS and if your last name is Sussex, look away now.

The news for Harry and Meghan was positive and absolutely brutal.

For Harry, 48 percent of adults have a positive impression of the former prince and 47 percent have a negative opinion, resulting in a net score of 1, which is a 19-point drop from March this year. .

Meghan, who is viewed positively by 33 per cent of UK adults and negatively by 59 per cent, creating a net favoritism of -26. That’s the second lowest score among the entire Windsor household.

In fact, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, the woman publicly dubbed by Diana, Princess of Wales, as “the Rottweiler” and who was the most hated woman in Britain for decades, is now more popular than Meghan.

Oh.

And what about Harry, the charming redhead whose jappery and Diana-like public persona saw him regularly take first or second place in terms of actual popularity? The prince who was once the golden son of the royal family, the apple of the eye of a loving nation? He is now tied up with his stepmother, Camilla.

Double ay.

For the Sussexes, who just two years ago were globally hailed as the superstar saviors of the royal family in megawatts, this poll marks a spectacular fall from grace and the affection of the British public.

It might be easy to dismiss these numbers: who cares what a bunch of complaining and aggrieved Brits think of Harry and Meghan given that they have chosen to make their future in sunny California rather than rainy Windsor?

But here’s a bigger and much more complicated picture, at the heart of which is the fact that Harry and Meghan’s futures are still tied, to some degree, to the UK.

For starters, while the pair have been in North America since March of this year and have yet to return to the UK, at some point they will have to make the return trip across the pond.

While Covid has surely contributed to keeping them thousands of miles away from their extended family, certain sadly unavoidable events in the coming years will demand that they spend much more time in Britain: the death of Prince Philip, the death of the Queen, the Ascension of Prince Charles to England. the throne and the investiture of William as Prince of Wales.

These will all be historic moments for the House of Windsor and it would be unthinkable for Harry, sixth in line to the throne, not to attend.

I mean, they may have spent much of this year away from the fussy Fleet Street and censored palace courtiers, but this is only a temporary situation.

The reception he and Meghan face when they land back in Blighty is likely markedly different from what they enjoyed just 12 months ago.

In Finding Freedom, the recently published comprehensive account of the Sussex’s journey from newlyweds to palace runaways, authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand argue that their very high preference was such that some saw it as a threat to the real status quo. .

“The senior courtiers … were concerned that the worldwide interest and popularity of the Sussexes needed to be checked. In the short period of time since their fairytale wedding, Harry and Meghan were already propelling the monarchy to new heights in The Sussexes had brought the monarchy closer to those who had never felt a connection before, “Freedom reports. “However, there were concerns that the couple would join the fold; otherwise, if they were left as they were, the establishment feared their popularity would eclipse that of the royal family.”

Make no mistake, Harry and Meghan were unmistakably the superstars drawing the crowd in the palace stable at the time.

But wow, has that crown-endangering celebrity taken a spectacular blow after his resignation?

Days after their explosive January announcement, 57 percent of Britons said they “disliked” the couple’s decision to step back with the same percentage saying they thought the Sussexes had treated the queen unfairly.

As the year progressed, so did a growing list of grim polls.

After the Duke and Duchess in August urged Americans to vote in the US presidential election, comments that were interpreted as tacit endorsement of Joe Biden, 49 percent of people surveyed in the UK They said they did not think it was appropriate for members of the royal family to discuss political issues. In the same month, 48 percent of British respondents said they thought Harry and Meghan should be stripped of their titles and only 27 percent of people firmly stated that they thought the couple should keep their titles.

(And in the wake of the couple’s $ 130 million Netflix deal announcement, YouGov found that 64 per cent of Brits were “not at all interested” in watching their content. Talk about voting with their remotes. …)

Thicker skin would surely be needed to not be affected by these numbers. How will the couple, who have spoken openly about their struggle with press criticism, feel when they come face to face with their diminished public reputations when they return to London?

(Note also that the couples’ lawsuits against three British newspapers and their harsh reprimands to the press over the past year will hardly mean that they will have excellent media reception.)

Right now, his return to the original shores shows all the signs of being really tough.

Looking back at this year, Harry and Meghan have spent the vast majority on a privileged bubble, first in their $ 20 million borrowed Canadian mansion, a brick and tacky monstrosity. Then came Tyler Perry’s Tuscan knockoff Beverly Hills resort. Finally, in July, it was confirmed that the duo had finally found their “forever home,” a simple set that features 16 bathrooms, a koi pond, and separate wet and dry saunas. (Imagine having to settle for just one …)

While they may have stayed in close contact with the people and organizations that matter to them in the UK, their public focus this year has been unequivocally focused on the US, as they build their brand in the US. with enthusiasm. In turn, Americans have welcomed them with open arms, a nation delighted to be torn apart to have their own real-life members of the royal family happily setting up a business between them. UNITED STATES!

But that public devotion stands in direct contrast to the reception they may face when they return to British soil.

It’s worth noting that as this year progressed, as they faced one damning poll after another, Harry and Meghan have shown little or no inclination to try to fall back into the goodwill of the British. There has been no campaign to win over Harry’s compatriots, to win favor, and to remind the island nation why they loved the Sussexes so much in the beginning.

And this blind spot in the Duke and Duchess’s plan could be a significant miscalculation.

No matter they have established lives on the West Coast, they will always be tied to Britain and their choice to focus heavily on working with American brands and platforms might bite them into their yoga-toned derrières. They will have to spend a part of their lives in Britain (after all, they paid the money from their house in Windsor) and they will not be able to escape the anger and discomfort that their elections have caused and that are reflected in their various polls. numbers.

Luckily for them, there is a member of the royal family who knows a thing or two about dealing with a wave of public animosity: Camilla. I’m sure you could have some advice for Harry and Meghan; that and the secret to the perfect gin martini needed to take on an angry nation.