Prince Harry and Meghan's UK Approval Ratings Have Flatlined — Here's What the Numbers Say
A survey reported by GB News on 20 August 2026 finds 26% of UK respondents viewing Prince Harry favourably and 42% unfavourably — the latest data point in a years-long decline in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's standing among the British public. The numbers arrive as YouGov's daily tracker continues to measure how much Britons care about reports that Harry and Meghan may be moving back to the UK. GB News
YouGov's most recent favourability tracker, published 30 July 2026, records only 22% of Britons holding a positive opinion of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, against 65% unfavourable. That figure is essentially unchanged from YouGov's May 2025 tracker, which found 20% positive and 65% unfavourable. YouGov, July 2026 YouGov, May 2025
Harry's own numbers tell a similar story of stagnation. YouGov's August 2025 tracker put his positive rating at 28%. The GB News survey a year later places him at 26% favourable, 42% unfavourable, suggesting no meaningful recovery. YouGov, August 2025
The trajectory has been downward since the couple stepped back from senior royal duties in early 2020. A Reuters-reported poll conducted after the March 2021 Oprah interview found 48% of 1,664 respondents holding a negative attitude toward Harry, versus 45% positive — a near-even split that has since widened into clear net unfavourability. Reuters By December 2022, YouGov reported that the royal family's overall popularity had dipped over the winter, with Harry and Meghan's favourability falling the most. YouGov
Yet the public is not of one mind, and age divides tell a different story. A YouGov snap poll conducted after the Sussexes' 2021 interview found that 48% of Britons aged 18 to 24 felt more sympathy for Harry and Meghan, while only 15% in that age group were more sympathetic to the senior royals. That generational gap has not closed in the intervening years, though no more recent age-segmented data is available in the verified record. YouGov, March 2021
On the specific question of whether Harry should return to royal duties, an Ipsos survey published in September 2024 found the British public split: 34% in favour, 37% opposed. That near-even division persists even as the couple's personal favourability ratings have remained low, suggesting the public distinguishes between Harry's fitness for duty and his personal popularity. Ipsos
The polling landscape, taken as a whole, reveals a structural pattern. Meghan's unfavourability has held at or near 65% across three separate YouGov waves spanning fourteen months, suggesting her standing has settled into a stable equilibrium — a flat line on the chart — rather than continuing to decline. Harry's numbers sit in a narrow band between 26% and 28% favourable. Neither trajectory shows the kind of movement that would indicate a reputational shift in either direction.
The broader context here is the distinction between favourability and functional support. The Ipsos finding that 34% back a return to duties, against Harry's 26–28% favourability rating, implies a segment of the public that holds an unfavourable personal view yet would nonetheless accept his resumption of a working royal role. This is the segment any reintegration plan would depend on, and it is a narrow one.
The generational divergence captured in the 2021 snap poll, if it has persisted, points to a different long-term picture. A cohort that was 18 to 24 in 2021 is now 23 to 29, entering the age band where political and civic engagement typically solidifies. Whether that cohort's relative sympathy for the Sussexes carries forward as they age, or converges toward the broader population's scepticism, is a question the current polling record cannot answer. But it is the variable most likely to determine whether the unfavourability ceiling hardens or loosens over the next decade.
What the data does not show is any recent event, announcement, or intervention that has moved the numbers. The GB News survey, the July 2026 YouGov tracker, and the August 2025 tracker all sit within the same range. The most that can be said is that the Sussexes' standing in the UK has plateaued at a level the working monarchy would find difficult to absorb, and that no polling in the verified record indicates that level is changing.
