Young Britons Turn on King Charles' Monarchy After Prince Harry's Book

King Charles III's royal family has sunk to an approval rating of -27 among Gen Z Brits, with 52 percent in favor of abolishing the monarchy.

The royals remain popular in the U.K. when the views of all age groups are taken together, but the monarchy appears to be losing the hearts and minds of Charles' younger subjects, according to polling by YouGov in the aftermath of Prince Harry's memoir.

Among 18-24-year-olds, 52 percent wanted to replace Charles with an elected head of state, compared to 34 percent who wanted to keep the king. Of those who expressed an opinion, 68 percent said they felt strongly about the subject.

Just 5 percent felt "very positive" about the royal family in general while 27 percent felt "very negative." Overall, 58 percent felt either fairly or very negative compared to 31 percent who felt either fairly or very positive, giving the family a net approval rating of -27 among young people.

Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, author of This Is Why I Resist, told Newsweek: "I don't think this data is surprising. It's clear that the youth of today have more sense than their forebears. The era of deference to the monarchy ended when Queen Elizabeth died.

"People and I think the youths can see that the monarchy today is not relatable at all to any area of their lives. They don't even speak to issues that they are passionate about.

"Even when they do, like for instance climate change, it's only done when speaking to high-level countries and high-level politicians. They are not engaging one-on-one with those people they are supposed to be serving.

"And those members of the royal family who could be remotely relatable to the youth of today are the very members who have been kicked out."

In the same poll only Kate Middleton and Princess Anne had approval ratings in positive numbers among 18-to-24-year-olds, with Gen Z dismissing both the U.K.-based royal family members as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The results are markedly different from surveys conducted as recently as September during a wave of public mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, when 47 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds wanted to keep the monarchy and 33 percent wanted an elected head of state.

However, they were also polling better in May 2022, in the run-up to Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, when 33 percent of Gen Z wanted to keep the monarchy and 31 percent wanted an elected head of state.

The changes appear to follow Prince Harry's memoir, which accused William of physically attacking him during an argument about Meghan and Queen Camilla of leaking stories about him. The couple's Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, also aired in December 2022.

Prince Harry told ITV in an interview promoting his book that he still believes in the monarchy and told the Daily Telegraph's Bryony Gordon: "This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy, this is about trying to save them from themselves. And I know that I will get crucified by numerous people for saying that."

Graham Smith, chief executive officer of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, told Newsweek: "They are on a downward trajectory and all the stuff around Harry and Meghan and the royals' reaction to it, and the change of monarch is driving a wedge between older and younger people.

"I think as years go by we're going to see support collapse as younger people get older and older people die."

Despite historically positioning themselves as champions of social justice causes that matter to the younger generation, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are also divisive among 18-to-24-year-olds.

Prince Harry's net approval rating among Gen Z was at -10 in the recent data while Meghan's was at -12, compared to Prince William who was on 0 and Kate Middleton who was on +5.

Charles was on -15 while Camilla was on -34. Princess Anne was most popular among young people on +17.

Mos-Shogbamimu said: "This centuries-old tradition is symbolic of ongoing structural inequalities. Whether you are Black, white or brown, whether it's class or race, finance or power, any of these other categories, the royal family as an institutional monarchy do not represent British values.

"The years of saying that the monarchy does is way behind us because we can see the truth behind the veil—that they are just as corrupt, just as badly behaved, just as insincere, hypocritical, all of the things that we should not be celebrating. So why in God's name are we putting them on any pedestal?"

However, she also said she felt the royals could recover their standing with young people in Britain if they tackle important issues.

"There is always an opportunity," she said. "Every challenge that faces the royal family is an opportunity. As long as there's life and there's will then there's a way. What they must do is be demonstrably changed from before and stop saying everything is political except when it affects them personally."

Update 01/18/23, 6:47 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Graham Smith of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic.