Princess Anne is just as popular as Kate, Princess of Wales, with both being the UK’s second most favoured members of the Royal Family, a leading pollster has found.
The Princess Royal and Kate both scored higher than both King Charles and Queen Camilla, and only marginally less than the late Princess Diana.
The highest-scoring living royal was Prince William, who the poll revealed is favoured to take over from King Charles “sooner rather than later” as it is felt he would make a better King than his father.
The poll, set up by Lord Ashcroft, pollster and former chairman of the Conservative Party, asked several questions about the Monarchy.
This included asking respondents how favourable they felt towards members of the Royal Family, the Firm as a whole, the institution, as well as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
READ MORE: Princess Anne’s position has dropped from second to 17th in line of succession
Lord Ashcroft’s poll examined data from across the Commonwealth, with his team surveying 22,701 people in the 15 nations where the King serves as the head of state.
It also conducted 44 focus groups with people of different backgrounds within the UK and eight of the so-called Commonwealth realms namely Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The 72-year-old Princess and Kate came in joint fourth with a 62 percent favourable rating. They both closely followed the late Princess Diana, who had a percentage of 63 percent.
When asked why they ranked Anne so favourably, respondents pointed towards the fact that she gets on with the job and does not care about being the star of the show.
A respondent, based in Wales, said: “Princess Anne is never in the limelight but she’s coined as the hardest-working royal. She didn’t want all the pomp, she didn’t give her children titles.
“She told them they had to go out and get jobs, and they’ve done that.”
Her children, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, do not receive financial help from the crown. Zara is an equestrian and has various brand deals while Peter works for the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The Princess Royal has long been dubbed the hardest-working royal as she frequently tops the Court Circular for most royal engagements undertaken in a year.
Last year alone, she undertook 214 engagements. In comparison, the King, who came in second place, carried out 143 royal engagements.
It is often said that Anne inherited her hard-working nature from the Queen, who topped the poll’s favourable list at 76 percent, ranking 12 percent higher than Prince William.
In November of last year, Anne carried out a staggering 30 engagements, one of which included a trip to the Falkland Islands.
Another respondent, based in Scotland, similarly said that they like how Anne does not seek attention.
