It’s certainly a crowded field, but the start of 2024 surely has to have been the royal family’s most challenging period in years.
King Charles, fresh into his reign after the 70-year run of his unfailingly popular mother, was forced to abruptly halt his strategy to “hit the ground running” in the face of an activated republican movement, in order to undergo treatment for cancer in January.
Like a one-two punch, in March came the devastating news that the Princess of Wales was also dealing with cancer and would need to retreat from the spotlight. Understandably, this saw Prince William also temporarily step back as he processed the news and supported his family.
The immediate, widespread feeling of compassion for two high-profile royals, grappling with the insidious disease that almost everyone has been affected by in some way, largely showcased the best of humanity.
But the business of being royalty, with its many perks, is one that needs to constantly show the wheels are turning.
It’s little wonder then, that just weeks before the announcement last month that he was able to resume public-facing duties, the King’s nephew revealed Charles was “hugely frustrated” at being prevented from getting on with the job.
Almost certainly, the words of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had done some laps around his head: “We have to be seen to be believed”.
In medieval times, that meant monarchs touring the realms constantly in order to show they were still alive, and keep the population in order.
Nowadays, it’s to show taxpayers that they’re getting bang for their buck and that the royal team is hard at work, in all their glamour (see: William and Kate).
But for all her wisdom, the latest statistics out of Britain have seemingly proven the late Queen wrong.
It seems Charles needn’t have worried so much – for the latest popularity poll on the royals done here in Britain has given them a major boost, despite the key players’ absences from the public eye.
Most people – a whopping 56 per cent – now believe the King is doing a good job, which is a significant jump from 49 per cent just a year ago, while 60 per cent believe the monarchy should stay intact, compared with 28 per cent keen on a republic.
The Ipsos poll, commissioned by the Mail on Sunday, also saw Kate given a 10 per cent spike on her approval rating from 2023, giving her 69 per cent – jointly tied with her husband, William.
Significantly, given the noise around the Palace’s communications strategy around Charles and Kate’s health, the “vast majority” insisted that enough information had been shared about the pair.
And the trend continues – with all members of the royal family, including Prince Harry and even Prince Andrew, seeing an increase in their popularity.
The only exception was Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, whose rating remained unchanged at 25 per cent.
Worry among the good news
While it’s clearly come as welcome news for the royal family – a palace source told the UK’s Telegraph that the King and Queen viewed it as “further evidence” of the “warmth and support” of the public in recent months – there is one concerning detail floating among the tide of good news which should serve as a warning for the future.
Just six weeks after unprecedented backlash was sparked over Kate’s now-infamously edited Mother’s Day photo, the poll shows that a whopping one in three people do not trust the accuracy of pictures released by the royal family, and young people are the most dubious.
The saga was a massive blow to the monarchy’s perceived authenticity, and the future Queen, already privately dealing with a cancer diagnosis, was identified as its architect.
Certainly, the latest polling is a huge boost for the monarchy amid one of its most turbulent eras in modern history – but if and when things get back to normal, they’ll clearly need to win back trust.
But for now, on the one-year anniversary of the Coronation and after what has, in Kate’s own words, “been an incredibly tough couple of months” for the “entire family”, there’s clearly at least one reason to celebrate at Buckingham Palace this week.