King Charles has received his lowest popularity rating since ascending the throne, with a new poll showing just 58 percent of Britons think of him positively. PR expert Mayah Riaz says the King inherited a monarchy subject to more criticism than ever before, amid scandal surrounding his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the fallout of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the Firm.
Poll shows declining support
The favourability rating is the lowest Charles has received throughout his four-year reign so far. However, the Mirror's royal editor Russell Myers believes part of the King's dwindling rating could be caused by Harry and Meghan's resurgence in the UK.
Mayah Riaz told the Mirror: "The difficulty is that Charles has inherited an institution that is under considerably more scrutiny than it was during his mother's reign. The public are less inclined to accept the traditional 'never complain, never explain' approach, and expectations around transparency, accountability and public responsibility have also changed considerably."
Scandals and family pressures
Throughout the first years of the King's reign, he has been forced to deal with a slew of scandals, most notably the arrest of his disgraced brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and the return of his son and daughter-in-law Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to the UK. In navigating both of these dramatic situations, the King has been put in a difficult position between his duty to the Crown and looking after his family.
Mayah explained: "I'd say that Charles has arguably one of the most difficult PR jobs in the country because he is expected to be both a father and a monarch, but those two roles don't always sit comfortably together. Needless to spell it out, the Harry and Meghan situation presents a completely different challenge. Their return to the UK brings renewed attention to family divisions that the Palace would probably prefer to keep private. But in today's media landscape, we have seen family disagreements involving the Royal Family rarely stay private for long."
Future of the monarchy
Despite the King's popularity falling in recent months, the recent poll conducted by YouGov shows that the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the notion of the Firm as a whole, still proves to be popular with the public. Mayah noted: "The distinction is important. The monarchy as an institution is still relatively well supported, which suggests the public are not necessarily turning their backs on the Crown itself. However, Charles' personal rating has fallen to its lowest point since becoming King. That tells me the public are making a distinction between supporting the institution and how they feel about the person currently leading it."
Mayah has urged the King to focus completely on his work for the monarchy rather than getting involved with royal scandals. She added: "I think the King needs to focus on rebuilding public confidence rather than trying to win a popularity contest. The worst thing the Palace could do is appear overly concerned with polling figures or launch an obvious charm offensive. Instead, Charles needs to demonstrate strong, decisive leadership. This means showing the public that the difficult situations are being handled appropriately, that accountability matters and that the monarchy is not operating by a different set of rules."
This week has also seen the monarch come under pressure to apologise for Britain's role in the slave trade. King Charles is expected to acknowledge the "dark times" of slavery in a speech at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) today after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he is 'open' to calls for a formal apology but ruled out financial reparations.
