Popularity of Harry and Meghan plummets in UK after Oprah interview, poll says
The popularity of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan has tumbled in Britain and has never been lower following their explosive interview with U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey, according to a poll on Friday.
During the interview aired last Sunday, Meghan said her pleas for help while she felt suicidal were ignored and that one unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin might be.
Meanwhile, Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson, also bemoaned his family’s reaction of the couple’s decision to step back from official duties.
- Meghan accuses UK royals of racism, says ‘didn’t want to be alive’
- ‘We’re not racist’, says Prince William after Meghan and Harry interview
The tell-all interview has plunged the 1,000-year-old monarchy into its greatest crisis this century, and according to a YouGov poll, the standing of the two royals has also taken a big hit in the aftermath.
It found 48% percent of the 1,664 respondents had a negative attitude of Harry compared to 45% with a positive view, the first time his net favourability rating had been negative, and a fall of 15 points from a week earlier.
Meanwhile, only three in 10 people had a positive view of Meghan, while 58% had a negative opinion.
As with other polls conducted since the interview, there was a divide between generations, with a majority of those aged 18 to 24 liking Harry and Meghan and those over 65 overwhelmingly having negative feelings towards them.
The only other member of the family to see their popularity fall was Harry’s father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles. The survey said 42% now had a negative view of him compared to 49% with a positive opinion.
That compared to the 94-year-old queen, who was liked by 80%, and Harry’s elder brother and his wife Kate, who were popular with three-quarters of respondents.
A separate poll, conducted partly before the interview was broadcast in Britain, found support for the monarchy as a whole was largely unchanged with 63% backing the institution and 25% wanting an elected head of state.
But there were some worrying figures for the royal family. Among the youngest age group, support for an elected head of state was higher than that for the monarchy by 42% to 37%, although YouGov said this was within the margin of error.
Source: Reuters
I read about 4 hours per day in non gardening months….Nov. to June. I read a very wide variety of books, papers, periodicals. Have lived & worked in 3 very diverse countries & have lived in 27 places. Have visited
a dozen countries. So, I have some life experiences to draw from for judging events or people.
Even prior to the interview (I do not have a tv but obviously do have a computer) when clips were publicized I knew 2 things. She knew nothing about the family. She was inserting herself into Dianna’s life struggles & pretending that they were her own. That would of course throw Harry off balance. Dianna brought shame on herself & family in her effort to hurt Prince Charles, but we forgave her because we had learned to love her for her many good works & her empathy. She had earned our respect. We forgave her actions, that of a woman scorned. But Megan, who is she? A nobody who is pretending to be black…she was raised in an upper middle class neighborhood by a white father. At university she only joined ‘white’ associations. Her mother, a Jamaican, is not black. She is what Jamaicans refer to as ‘coloured’. Like those in South Africa who have mixed parentage of Black Africans with Caucasian Dutch.
We Hungarians know that we have coloured ancestry, from our own beginnings. Prince Charles has inherited from a great-great relative, who was Magyar. If he, or they, were ashamed & therefore racist, he would not often visit Hungary & Romania.
Although Megan tried to insist that she is not pointing fingers at her Royal Highness the Queen, she has vomited ‘her story’ using ‘her voice’ all over her just the same.
I spent more than 4 hours each day during the past number of days reading every UK paper, while YouTube videos played in the background 1 after another. Eventually I got a very clear picture of Meg, whom I would suggest we nickname Megan the Manipulator.
Polls R unreliable. People who couldn’t even tell you the most basic things about their own country or history are included. As R people who have very specific personal issues that they want to push. We actually saw that as many people of a wide range of shades & access to the general public jumped on the bandwagon of her claims of Royal racism to tell of their own bad experiences. Too bad that so many talked too much instead of reading more.
The 2nd. thing I know for sure about M. is that she is not deeply concerned with her child or husband. Not family motivated. She is motivated by personal promotion & money. Oprah did a disservice to everyone by not asking her ANY questions at all about how her own family relations were despite pretending that “nothing would be off limits”. Of course, she is not a friend, she is a savvy business woman who has tried for a very long time to get closer to the Royals. I was disappointed in her. this interview was not her best work.
After MANY hours of reading, listening, also watching video related to this topic I would like to share just a few of the ones that explained themselves well, as people who really understood the characters, the situation & in several cases had long time personal contact with the families, also with Meghan herself.
I’m not including short ones from teachers or people who had witnessed first hand what a wonderful father Meghan’s dad had been, how he had given such generous financial & time to her goals to become an actress. And his words, that he did not leave her, she left him, them.
But for people who don’t have as much free time as I do, this may help give you a picture of the truths about both Meghan-Harry & the surrounding Firm. Remember, The Royals are a family within a large business with huge responsibilities. They must all earn their lifestyle, in return they must give to their public a united front that asks for very little for themselves as individuals. It is a huge trade-off for them all as it is for the public. For the $$s tht they absorb, they bring many more than that from tourism, providing jobs, education etc.
1) longtime family photographer: his v. is labeled “Prince Harry ‘needs to grow up’ Royal Snapper Arthur Edwards. He’ll talk about how much he loved working/travelling with Harry, How he had changed recently.
2) Rebecca English one of the journalists who has specific background info to share in March 10 v. called: Palace Confidential Special
3) Peta Credlin speaks frankly of what has been made clear in her SKY NEWS video: Prince Harry & M. M. ‘demand privacy’ then ‘spill Royal Secrets’
4) a fascinating woman who has lots of 1st hand experiences with The Royals over many years & is a C. Jamaican herself, like Megan, has a lengthy v. that breaks down the actual O. interview piece by piece & explains the actual truth behind miss-information Megan claimed. I leave hers to the end cus U want to get popcorn & a drink. Having written books about & for various Royals she is worth a watch. She has many but I’d start with: Chatting with Lady C: Meghan, Harry & Oprah interview dissected & contextualized.
(Lady Colin Campbell lives in a gorgeous castle originally built for a famous poet/writer. She has had a life like no ordinary person!!! She herself had it brought back to its current beauty, rents for weddings.)
I believe that if a person is to speak publicly their personal opinions, it is important to first listen to many others so that you have context and a framework in which to form your own. This case is important. to me because I am a proud Magyar-Canadian. As you would know, we are in the historical context of Prince Phillips bloodline. In general, you always want to be on the ‘right side of history’. That means forming opinions carefully and not sitting on the fence.