How King Charles finally won Britain’s heart

There are few public figures who enjoy unwavering popularity for decades. Even the late Queen Elizabeth II – who in her twilight years seemed unassailable – saw her approval ratings plummet after the death of Princess Diana, her response to which was judged to be out of kilter with that of her subjects.

Her son and heir King Charles III is no exception to the rule that when it comes to public opinion, what goes up must come down, before it goes back up again. 

The King turns 75 today and has been in the public eye for as many years. During this time, his popularity has waxed and waned. But since he has settled into his role as monarch, has it finally stabilised – or does he still have some way to go to secure his place in the nation’s hearts? 

Cast your mind back to Britain’s relationship with the King in the 20th century: in the court of public opinion, he lost out, fairly or otherwise, to his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. 

But amid the Princess Diana fervour that endures in some quarters to this day, it can be easy to forget the initial fondness there was for the King.

Such was his popularity in 1980 that an opinion poll found a majority of British citizens believed the late Queen should abdicate within the decade and allow him to take the throne. 

The following year, an estimated global television audience of 750 million tuned in to watch his wedding. There was hardly a tea towel in Britain that didn’t carry an image of his and the Princess of Wales’s faces. 

Public opinion is fickle, though, and by 1984 an Ipsos Mori poll found only one in three people now favoured the late Queen’s abdication in favour of her eldest son. 

The world had fallen in love with the beautiful, glamorous Diana, and by her side Charles cut an awkward and sometimes sullen figure. It was a comparison that rankled. 

“He got very upset because everybody wanted to see Diana and not him,” says royal biographer Angela Levin, who observes that his first marriage was partly a result of his desire to be well regarded.

“Throughout his life he wanted to please his parents,” Levin says. “That’s one of the reasons he married Diana. He thought she was a lovely girl but they obviously had nothing in common.”

Yet if they were blinded by Diana’s charisma, the public hadn’t yet turned its back on Charles. 

In 1991, Mori polling found 82 per cent of people thought he would make a good king in the future, with only five per cent believing he would do a bad job.

His popularity was to plunge, however, amid the collapse of his marriage. Between 1991 and 1996, the percentage of those who thought he would make a good king tumbled to just 41 per cent.  

“The Diana years were cruel – to both of them – and there were times when many agreed with the Princess that he wasn’t cut out for ‘the top job,’” says Jennie Bond, the former BBC royal correspondent.. 

The nadir came with Diana’s death in 1997. In its immediate aftermath, an ABC News poll found that only 40 per cent of British people had a favourable opinion of Charles.

By the following year, he had managed to turn back the tide of disapproval a little, but by the turn of the 21st century there was still a lack of widespread love for the future king. 

An ICM survey that year found that less than half (48 per cent) of respondents wanted the crown to pass to Charles next, while one in three said they would prefer it to skip a generation and go straight to Prince William. 

The feeling was especially strong among women, and it was suggested at the time that they may have been judging him more harshly than men for his adultery.

“Everyone blamed him for Diana’s problems, and it was very painful for him,” says Levin of those turbulent years that followed their split. “[With] Diana looking gorgeous with tearful eyes, everyone thought she did no wrong.”

Beyond the Princess of Wales debacle, public perceptions of the King have been mixed. During his long wait for the throne, he was at times criticised for meddling. 

His “black spider” memos – sent to ministers between 2004 and 2005, and so-called because of his handwriting – were seized on as evidence he had sought to influence matters of government. His views on modern architecture also became infamous.

The integration into the Royal family of his now wife, the Queen, was meanwhile “dogged by controversy”, as Christopher Wilson, author of A Greater Love: Charles and Camilla, puts it. If theirs was the true love story, it wasn’t one that resonated with a Diana-loving public until much later.

 Yet despite the vicissitudes of his colourful life, and the corresponding ups and downs in his relationship with the British public, royal watchers agree that the King has succeeded in winning hearts and minds. 

He is greatly admired for his charity work, with even committed republicans having nothing but praise for The Prince’s Trust in particular, and the difference it has made to so many lives. 

Levin characterises him as “extremely kind and understanding”, and argues that “people over time have seen that”.

He has also been vindicated for passions that to many once seemed eccentric. 

“People thought he was bonkers [for his environmental concerns] and he’s been proven right,” says Levin. “People thought organic food was madness,” she adds. He has come to look prophetic rather than perverse. 

Still plagued by family drama, he has nonetheless won praise for his deft handling of Prince Andrew’s fall from grace, and sympathy for a very public falling out with his younger son, Harry. 

“A lot of people feel sorry for him [over that],” says Levin. “But he’s holding himself with a lot of dignity and people really do realise that.”

Statista data shows that in 2021, 42 per cent of the public had a negative view of him. But by September 2022, when Queen Elizabeth II died, 70 per cent had a positive opinion. 

If, a year later, his approval ratings had dipped, it was only by a little, with YouGov polling revealing that most voters thought he was doing a good job (59 per cent), compared with only 17 per cent who said the opposite.

“I think people can see he’s doing a remarkably good job and that he seems after all these years to appear very comfortable with himself,” says Ingrid Seward, editor in chief of Majesty magazine. 

She believes that at 75, he has earned the public’s respect for “the way he has [followed in] his mother’s footsteps so eloquently”. She adds: “He’s a different kind of being to his mother, but he’s filled a huge gap really well.”

Having Queen Camilla by his side has, perhaps, ultimately helped him become the more settled man he is today. 

“I would rate her imperturbability during those fraught [earlier] years as her crowning achievement, bringing with it solace and a sense of completion to the sovereign, allowing him to finally break through the clouds and become the avuncular, grounded, figure we now see,” says Wilson. 

“She saved Charles, a man lost in the wilderness until he finally found contentment in his marriage to her. She is his fortress.”

Bond agrees that he celebrates his 75th birthday as a loved and respected figure. 

“I think people now see in King Charles a man who is true to himself,” she says. 

“[A man] who stood up for the woman he loved, declaring Camilla ‘non-negotiable’; who has weathered the barbed attacks from his son, Harry, with a commendable silence and who, most importantly, is holding fast to his principles of promoting harmony and peace between people of all faiths and of making this world a better place for everyone.”