“…A significant part of the public popularity of the monarchy now depends on the Prince and Princess of Wales. They’re like politicians who are more popular than their party.
There was a revealing survey from YouGov this month that showed Prince William and Catherine as having approval ratings of over 70%, while support for the monarchy as an institution was at 56%.
Among younger people support for the monarchy is only 34% – and it’s not until the over-50s that a majority see it in a positive way.
The significance of Prince William and Catherine’s popularity is that it stretches across age groups and different regions, at a time when a significant minority are sceptical about the monarchy.
“The monarchy has to be relevant and he wants to modernise it,” says Prof Maclaran.
As heir to the throne, he will also have to look in the longer term to his own reign.
“The next few years will see him thinking through what kind of monarch he wants to be and what kind of monarch the country will need to have in the mid-21st Century,” says historian Sir Anthony Seldon.
“He has been defining his own agenda, much of it overlapping with his father’s interests and passions,” says Sir Anthony.
But it’s at a time of so many unknowns for Prince William, who has such a big public platform but now has to find his own voice.”
Posted by Copperheadmedusa
12 comments
They have been writing some version of this take since William was two years old. I have a solution to all this angst. The monarchy is getting less popular with every generation and William seems like he couldn’t give less of a shit. So just throw the towel in already like what are we doing… 🙄😒
I honestly don’t think you can modernize something so archaic.
Nothing…
Modernize it by never working is the plan.
Charles is innovative and hard working. William is the opposite but people still adore him. Why?!
I honestly hate the “he needs to find his voice”. Dude needs to listen. I don’t think there’s anybody more out of touch than this guy.
Go cut some ribbons at car dealerships in Milton Keynes. You can be home in time for lunch and then bunk off until dinner.
I think it’s interesting that he has Earthshot and still there are a lot of U.K. publications that insist he doesn’t really have an identity as Prince of Wales—or even as Duke of Cambridge. I kind of agree? I mean when I think of Kate I think of her work with small children (even though I’m not exactly sure what early years is for). She’s put a ton of engagements into things for kids. And of course when you think of Charles I think of conservation and the environment. And the Princes Trust of course.
Idk, maybe it’s a branding issue? I will say that William doesn’t seem to have any one thing he’s super passionate about, but maybe I’m being unfair?
You can’t really modernised and institution whose entire foundation is built on blood superiority and birth order. Even the modern monarchies that people love to compare the British to such as in the Scandinavian countries arent really modern at all.
William is popular enough right now actually and way more popular than some forums would have you believe. The only thing he needs do is that he doesn’t fuck up on a large scale. And I mean an actually provable fuck up not rumors like cheating with Rose Hanbury and him murdering Catherine.
A lot of over 50s remember Diana and still have I’ll feelings towards Charles and Camilla. It’s likely that much of William and Catherine’s “approval rating” is comparative to Charles. There is no room for the kind of monarchy the BRF are in this day and age. Charles is also riding the wave of good will left by Elizabeth. William will have no such wave to ride.
William isn’t modernizing anything. The black side of the family was hounded out, he has a light workload and there are a lot of scandals with him that won’t die. The only thing he really has on his favor is that Charles’ reign will be short so William may still be in the Goodwill window. Charles also won’t make any mark as king so there will be no shoes for W to fill.
JMO, but lately he seems to be whiffing it.
He’s blind to the how he comes off in terms of race and wealth. He got himself into a completely unnecessary situation with his brother. He spoke out against allowing his mother’s opinions and feelings about her life situation from being heard. He completely cocked up communicating around his wife’s serious illness.
I used to have a pretty positive impression of him. That’s really changed around in the last 5 years.
Although, he’s got my total sympathy towards his current situation. No matter how wealthy and privileged you are, having your wife and mother of your three small children seriously ill is just an incredibly awful place to be in.
Time will tell, but I think maybe it’s time for the UK to ease out the royals. 🤷🏻♀️
William has Earthshot and Homewards and United For Wildlife, and he has only had The Duchy for less than 2 years, but he seems to have some ideas and plans for it.
He expresses political opinions more than Elizabeth, but definitely nowhere near Charles’ spider notes.
He also seems to steer clear of taking shady money for his foundation and a side effect is that it’ll probably never be as big as Charles’ ones, but definitely cleaner.
I think he has”his voice” with his 3 key interests that have been pretty constant most of his adult life, and I wonder why the press keep going on about this, I wonder if it’s because he guards his private life so tightly and they want more of it.
All he has to do is not fuck up and be nice. No cheating scandals, no financial scandals, also don’t whine, people hate whining royals, etc. I feel like William and Kate are surrounded by chronic fuck ups and whiners, but so long as they don’t behave that way and try to distance theirselves from those people they should be ok.