Kate becomes UK’s favourite royal after cancer diagnosis, poll shows

The Princess of Wales has become the UK’s most popular royal in the wake of her cancer diagnosis.

Kate jumped ahead of her husband the Prince of Wales, with 76% of Britons quizzed saying they had a positive view of the future Queen.

Her popularity rating has risen six percentage points since the start of the year during which time she delivered a video message to the nation announcing her chemotherapy treatment.

Heir to the throne William, with a 73% positive rating in the YouGov poll, fell from the top position with a drop of one percentage point in contrast to January, but he still remains the second most favourite royal.

Around a fifth of people (21%) had a negative view of the prince, compared with 15% for the princess.

The King’s sister the Princess Royal was next with a 71% positive rating, with Anne having the smallest negative rating at 13%.

She was followed by Charles, who like Kate is also being treated for cancer.

The King has a 63% positive rating and 30% negative, and is followed by his brother the Duke of Edinburgh with 54% positive, and the Queen, who has moved up two percentage points since January, with 50% having a favourable view of Camilla.

Less than a third have a positive opinion of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with 31% for Harry and 26% for Meghan.

The Duke of York, whose disastrous Newsnight interview was brought back into the spotlight this month with the release of the Netflix drama Scoop, remains the least popular member of the family of those included in the YouGov survey.

Some 6% have a positive view of Andrew compared with 86% a negative one.

The princess has stepped back from public life while she undergoes treatment for an undisclosed cancer, which was discovered in post-operative tests following her major abdominal surgery in January.

She opened up about her own diagnosis in an emotional video message released on March 22, after facing online conspiracy theories about her health and whereabouts.

Get well messages flooded in from around the world, and William and Kate were said to be “enormously touched” and “extremely moved” by the public’s warmth and support.

YouGov questioned 2,004 adults between April 2-3.