Kate Middleton Takes the Top Spot for Most-Loved Royal In New Poll — But Prince William Isn’t Second

Kate Middleton is the United Kingdom’s favorite royal. The Princess of Wales recently took the top spot in a new poll, but in a surprising twist, her husband, Prince William, lost out to another royal family member.

Kate Middleton and her husband, Prince William, are known together as the Prince and Princess of Wales. The two are first in line for the throne behind the current monarch, King Charles. The United Kingdom has grown to love Kate, who was raised a commoner but married into the royal family after meeting William at University of St. Andrews more than 20 years ago.

The Princess of Wales has just taken the top spot in a new poll around royal popularity, but surprisingly, her husband lost second place to another unsuspecting royal.

Princess Kate and Princess Anne are the two most popular royal family members

Earlier this year, Kate shocked the world when she announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer. The princess has since attended very few outings as she has mostly taken the year to recover and put her health first, though she announced on September 10 that she was officially “cancer free” and would attend more engagements as the year went on. The UK people love her, and in a new popularity poll by YouGov, Kate was voted the most popular royal among residents of the UK.

According to Express, the poll works by calculating what percentage of people think favorably of a royal versus the percentage that think unfavorably (and some who don’t lean in either direction). The poll revealed that 71% of British people think favorably of Kate, with Kate receiving the highest positive percentage of any royal.

But the second-place spot actually went to Princess Anne, who is viewed favorably by a whopping 70% of the UK public. Anne stepped up quite a bit in early 2024 when both King Charles and Kate were out for medical leave, and she took on more royal engagements in 2023 than any other family member. The public has grown to love her dedication to her family and to various charitable issues.

Prince William landed in third place in the new poll

Prince William, Kate’s husband, might have to deal with always taking a back seat to his wife in terms of popularity. The prince snagged the third-place spot, with 59% of the UK public thinking favorably of him.

Interestingly, although Meghan Markle overall received a negative score (meaning that more people view her negatively than positively), she actually only came in two percentage points behind William in the 18-24 year old range. That says that Meghan’s popularity is much stronger among young people, which is a good sign for her future in the UK. Prince Harry’s overall popularity was 10 percentage points higher than Meghan’s but still landed in the negatives.