Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has been a good addition to the royal family. A national survey, conducted for Tatler from Sept. 6 to 8, 2019, revealed that more than half of the British locals think Prince Harry's wife is a positive influence.
Since officially becoming a royal in May 2018 after marrying Prince Harry, Meghan has brought value to the campaign for women's causes and conservation of the environment in the U.K., along with her husband. However, as 55 percent think she is good for the royals, 45 percent disagreed with the perception, while 39 percent said that Meghan Markle is hypocritical.
The survey comes right after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were heavily criticized in the media for taking a number of private plane rides over the summer. Critics said that this behavior runs counter to their support of environmental causes as private jet planes bring huge carbon footprints.
In spite of the criticisms of the Sussex couple, about 40 percent of British people think that Prince Harry and Meghan are at the receiving end of an unfair media. Twenty percent said that they think the bias against the duchess is fueled by racism, while 27 said that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could be better off making Los Angeles their permanent home.
Meanwhile, the poll also revealed that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is the most popular member of the royal family with 44 percent of the respondents picking her over Meghan. It's not the first time that Kate topped a survey over her sister-in-law as YouGov also did a popularity poll in 2017 and 2018, where Prince William's wife was the number one favorite royal.
Analysts say that Kate might have won over the public much better than Meghan because she joined the royal family eight years ago and the people are have become familiar with her. On the other hand, the public is still getting to know the Duchess of Sussex as a royal though she has been a public figure as an actress in Hollywood.
Tatler is releasing the full results of the survey in its latest issue, which will be in newsstands or digital downloads on Thursday, Oct. 31. The print is also the magazine's 310th-anniversary release, which will feature Meghan in the cover. The photo of the duchess, however, is from a 2015 shoot for a Canadian establishment. Curiously, Tatler's September issue named Prince Harry's wife as the "social climber of the year."
