Support for Royal Family grows, poll suggests

Published on Saturday 2 April 2011 16:37

SCOTLAND is becoming more supportive of the Royal Family as Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding approaches, an exclusive Scotland on Sunday poll has revealed.

With less than four weeks to go until the royal wedding, the poll found that the proportion of Scots with republican sympathies has fallen significantly since 2005 when a third (33 per cent) of the population took the view that the monarchy should end when the Queen relinquishes the throne. According to the poll, now only a quarter (24 per cent) of Scots believe that the Queen should not be replaced when she finally departs.

But the YouGov poll of 1,025 Scots did raise serious questions about who should take over from the Queen by revealing a growing feeling that Prince Charles should step aside and allow his son, Prince William, to be next-in-line to the throne.

The strengthening of support for the royals delighted Scottish monarchists and were even welcomed by the SNP, despite Alex Salmond's party containing some prominent republicans.

Environment minister Roseanna Cunningham and Christine Grahame, the Nationalist hoping to hold on to her South of Scotland Holyrood seat, are both well known for their anti-monarchist views.

In contrast, Salmond has embraced the Royal Family and is comfortable with the idea of the Queen remaining head of state in an independent Scotland. Of those who believed that the Queen should not be replaced, about a third were SNP supporters (32 per cent), compared with 22 per cent Labour voters, 18 per cent Liberal Democrats and 4 per cent Conservative voters.

"The Queen and her successors as our shared head of state is an important part of the social union we envisage between an independent Scotland and England, and these are very positive figures in that regard," an SNP spokesman said.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tory deputy leader who was behind the move to get an official portrait of the Queen at Holyrood, said: "These findings clearly show the majority of Scots recognise the benefits of having the monarchy. Her Majesty the Queen is highly regarded across Scotland and this section is clearly represented in the polling figures.

Lib Dem campaign manager George Lyon said: "As royal wedding fever grips the nation, it's unsurprising to see more people supporting our Royal Family."

But it was not all plain sailing for the Royal Family, with the poll indicating growing disquiet over the succession. The proportion of Scots who believe that Prince William and not Prince Charles should succeed the Queen now stands at 34 per cent compared with 29 per cent in 2005.

Those who were in favour of a conventional succession that would see Prince Charles take over from his mother remained stable with 35 per cent favouring that approach against 35 per cent six years ago.

Pressure groups campaigning for the abolition of the monarchy claimed that the growing number of people who want a generation to be skipped created problems for the UK's most famous and enduring institution.

"There is considerable division over who should succeed the Queen if the monarchy survives. That debate is going to keep running for the next few years and it presents the monarchy with a real problem, as what the people want is not on the agenda. If Charles is alive when the Queen dies, he will be king; what the voters prefer will be ignored," said Graham Smith of the pressure group republic."

The poll also looked at support for an independent Scotland and found that 33 per cent would vote "yes" in a referendum compared with the 51 per cent who would vote "no". The remainder did not know how they would vote. Comparison with previous polls suggested that support for independence has remained fairly constant.