A recent survey conducted among UK adult residents revealed that Prince Harry is the second most favored British royal to become the next monarch. Betfair Bingo's poll asked 2,006 participants which royal they would like to see assume the role of King or Queen next.
With 47.5% of the votes, Prince William was the top choice, while the Duke of Sussex secured the second position with 8.8% of the votes. Kate Middleton followed as the third choice with 6.6%. Meghan Markle ranked fifth in the survey with 2.7%, after Princess Anne at 4.3%.
As per the Royal Family's official website, succession to the throne is regulated not only by descent but also by Parliamentary statute. Currently, Prince William is next in line to the throne after King Charles III, followed by his children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Despite the survey results, Prince Harry is fifth in line to the British throne, followed by his children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The survey results are surprising, considering Prince Harry's past criticisms of the monarchy and the royal family. His explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, in which he and Meghan Markle claimed that a senior royal had concerns about their future children's skin color, marked the beginning of his critiques.
Prince Harry continued to express his grievances with the royal family in the Apple TV+ docuseries "The Me You Can't See" and the "Harry & Meghan" Netflix docuseries. Additionally, in promotional interviews for his memoir "Spare," he accused the royals of participating in a smear campaign against him and his wife, alleging that Queen Consort Camilla leaked stories to the tabloids as part of her "selfish P.R. campaign."
Most recently, in his privacy suit against Associated Newspapers Limited, Prince Harry accused the institution of "withholding information" about "phone hacking." The Associated Press obtained a witness statement in which he claimed the royal family "did not need to know anything about phone hacking" and that it was made clear that "the Royal Family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms."
Despite his critiques, the British public still ranked Prince Harry as their second choice for the next monarch. This follows a separate poll that showed 53% of Americans agree that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children, Archie and Lilibet, should have their HRH Prince and HRH Princess titles.
