LONDON (Reuters) – The popularity of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan has fallen in Britain and has never been so low following their explosive interview with US presenter Oprah Winfrey, according to a poll on Friday.
During the interview that aired last Sunday, Meghan said her pleas for help while feeling suicidal were being ignored and an unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin could be.
Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Harry also complained about his family’s reaction to the couple’s decision to relinquish official duties.
The all-telling interview plunged the 1,000-year-old monarchy into its greatest crisis of this century, and according to a YouGov poll, the status of the two royals has also taken a big hit in the aftermath.
It turned out that 48% percent of the 1,664 respondents had a negative attitude towards Harry, compared to 45% with a positive opinion, the first time their net benefit rating was negative, and a 15-point drop from a week earlier.
Meanwhile, only three in ten people had a positive opinion of Meghan, while 58% had a negative opinion.
As with other polls conducted since the interview, there was a gap between the generations, with a majority of 18 to 24 year olds liking Harry and Meghan and the over-65s having predominantly negative feelings toward them.
The only other member of the family to see their popularity decline was Harry’s heir apparent father, Prince Charles. According to the study, 42% now had a negative image of him, compared to 49% with a positive judgment.
That compared to the 94-year-old queen, who was loved by 80%, and Harry’s older brother and his wife Kate, who were popular with three-quarters of the respondents.
A separate poll, conducted in part before the interview was broadcast in Britain, found that support for the monarchy as a whole remained largely unchanged: 63% supported the institution and 25% wanted an elected head of state.
But there were some troubling numbers for the royal family. Among the youngest age group, support for an elected head of state was 42% to 37% higher than that for the monarchy, although YouGov said this was within the margin of error.
Reporting by Michael Holden, published by Elizabeth Piper