Meghan Markle’s popularity falls to record low, new poll suggests

Public opinion of the Duchess of Sussex in Britain has fallen to an all-time low, a new poll suggests.

Those with a negative view of Prince Harry’s wife of five years, Meghan Markle, made up 68 per cent of respondents, while 21 per cent held a positive view, according to a YouGov survey of 2,014 people.

The data company began recording Meghan’s net favourability among the public when she and Harry were dating in 2017, but the most recent rating shows it has fallen to -47 – the lowest it has ever been.

Compared to April’s results, the positive view of Mehan has fallen by three points and added to the “total negative view” result, which jumped from 65 to 68 per cent.

In the same dataset, Prince Harry is also unfavoured by the British public, with 63 per cent of YouGov respondents having a “total negative” view of him, while 28 per cent had a positive view.

Meanwhile, six in 10 people have a positive view of the King. His net favourability stood at 32, which marked an improvement on April, before his coronation, when the figure was 26.

It comes as Spotify has announced it will not not be renewing its three-year deal with the Sussexes production company Archewell Audio, worth $20m (£15.6m).

Under the terms of the 2020 deal, Harry and Meghan were signed on to produce and host “programming that uplifts and entertains audiences around the world” in the form of podcasts that championed diverse voices.

The first of these was Archetypes, a 12-part series hosted by Markle. Guests on the show, which won a People’s Choice Award, included Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton, Mindy Kaling, and Constance Wu.

Less than a year after it was released, the audio streaming company and Archewell Audio announced they had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together”.

Among the rest of the royals, the late Queen Elizabeth II is thought to be favoured most positively by the public, with 80 per cent popularity according to YouGov’s site, while the Princess Royal follows second with 66 per cent and the Prince of Wales in a joint third place with his wife Kate Middleton, with 65 per cent of respondents favouring the pair.

YouGov recorded that the favourability of the royal family had increased to a rating of 28 since April, when it was at 25. The favourability of the institution of the monarchy also increase slightly, jumping up from 19 to 25.

It comes as Prince William has candidly spoken about the public’s perception of the British royal family.

While speaking about his William five-year project aimed at tackling homelessness, the heir to the British throne admitted to The Sunday Times that not everybody in the UK “sees the point” of having a royal family.

“We’re all very busy and I think it’s hard sometimes to see what the family bring and what we do,” he told the paper. “But the amount of causes, the interests, the dinners, the meetings, the visits, whatever it is, that we do day in, day out, throughout the year, we’ve always been involved in that.

“It’s part of what we do. It’s trying to spotlight other causes, other people, other interests, and help people where we can,” he added. “We’ll continue to do that.”