The American fascination with British royalty hasn’t changed very much since the days of Diana and Charles, as a recent YouGov survey has revealed. Although Prince William and Princess Kate seem like they should be a shoo-in for the top spot in a “most popular royals” poll, Americans are still carrying a royal torch for the People’s Princess nearly three decades after her tragic death.
Princess Diana still reigns supreme—at least according to a survey asking Americans for their views of British Royal Family members both living and dead. The late princess dominated the poll with an impressive 76 percent of respondents finding her “very or somewhat favorable.”
Unsurprisingly, Queen Elizabeth II secured a solid second place with a 67 percent favorability rating, while Prince William (58 percent) rounded out the top three. But although you might expect the Princess of Wales to rank similarly to her husband, Prince Harry (53 percent) narrowly beat his sister-in-law Kate—despite his controversial 2020 departure from royal duties.
The Princess of Wales’s fifth-place, 52 percent favorability position comes as a surprise considering her typically stellar polling numbers in the U.K.; she was voted the number-one most popular member of the Royal Family in a February 2025 YouGov poll in the United Kingdom.
Princess Diana ranked as the most popular member of the Royal Family in America.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, American-born Meghan Markle landed in seventh place with a 46 percent favorability rating, trailing behind Princess Anne‘s 47 percent. Interestingly, the hard-working Princess Royal received a hugely different ranking in the U.K., coming in third place with a whopping 70 percent of Brits viewing her in a favorable manor.
Just 42 percent of Americans viewed King Charles favorably in the poll—significantly behind his late first wife and mother. Queen Camilla, however, was ranked the second-to-last most popular royal with a favorability rating of just 30 percent—which given Diana’s popularity is hardly surprising.
As for the royal with the lowest rating? Unsurprisingly, that honor belongs to Prince Andrew, whose friendship with Jeffrey Epstein continues to cast a shadow over his public perception.