King Charles III popularity plummets to lowest levels since ascension

King Charles III’s popularity has reportedly plummeted to its lowest level since he ascended to the throne four years ago, according to UK government polling.

The latest YouGov poll from October showed that 58 per cent of British people “see King Charles positively,” with his net favourability rating currently at plus 24.

However, his four point drop in popularity since the July poll marks the lowest popularity score Charles has received since becoming King in September 2022.

Simultaneously, negative opinions of Charles have risen by three points to 34 per cent.

Britian’s opinion on Price Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex have only continued to drop since the last poll, despite the pair’s return to the UK.

Meghan’s rating has dropped to minus 48, which is the “lowest recorded” score by the YouGov tracker “to date,” according to the data.

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The drop in Harry, Megan and Charles’ popularity comes amid a busy time for the royal family.

Megan and Harry have just moved back to the UK with their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, which has brought a number of safety and security concerns for the young family.

The pair made headlines in their first week back after reported security concerns forced the children to change schools after just two days.

Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were withdrawn from the school on the advice of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s security team who cited the “practicalities” of getting the children to and from the school.

The news came as Meghan was granted her first government-backed security review since quitting royal duties six years ago.

Meanwhile, King Charles was dealing with a media frenzy of his own after it was revealed that he paid £1.5 million ($2.84 million) to cover costs owed by the former Prince Andrew, his younger brother, when he was forced to move out of a crown-owned home near Windsor Castle due to his links to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Charles loaned the money to his brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, out of his private income to ensure that the Crown Estate was paid on time, a person familiar with the payment said.

The revelation came after the Crown Estate, which manages crown properties, said Mountbatten-Windsor was charged £1.8 million ($3.4 million) due to the dilapidated state of the property and received a credit of £302,000 ($572,000)  as compensation for the early surrender of his lease.

That left him with a debt of £1.5 million, which the king paid.

Charles stripped his brother of his title and ordered him to leave Royal Lodge last year as the monarch sought to shield the rest of the royal family from the continuing scandal of Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Epstein.

The moves came as the US Justice Department released millions of pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein, revealing previously unknown details about his links to the former prince.

On the other hand, the Prince and Princess of Wales are still the most popular royals with 72 to 73 per cent of British citizens having a positive opinion of them, according to the YouGov data.