ONLY around one-third of people in Scotland support the monarchy, by far the lowest of the nations of the United Kingdom, a new poll has found.
The research, conducted for ITV News, found that Wales has the strongest support for the royals in the UK, with 56% of people backing the monarchy.
But in Scotland that support is 19 points lower. North of the Border, just 37% of adults said they support the monarchy.
In England, those who back the royals are in the majority (54%), while they are a slim minority in Northern Ireland (47%).
The Savanta polling of 2181 British people, conducted from April 21-23, also pointed to a deep generational divide in attitudes towards the monarchy.
Among people aged 18-34, just 39% said they backed the monarchy, compared to 70% of those aged over 65. A total of 53% of people aged 35-64 said they support the royals.
Asked if they thought Charles would make a good king, the results by age group were largely the same.
Among 18-34-year-olds, 38% said he would make a good king, against 52% in the 35-64 category, and 67% of those aged 65 or over.
In England, 52% of people said Charles would be either a “very” or “fairly” good king, while this figure was 39% for Scotland.
Prince William (above), who is next in line to the throne after Charles, fared much better in the polling.
In England, 67% of people said he would make a good king, and in Scotland 51% of people agreed.
Among people aged 18-34, 53% said William would make a good king. ITV said that he was the “only royal in our survey to receive this generation's approval”.
The poll comes after another from YouGov in April also showed a deep divide between how younger and older people view the monarchy.
The firm found that 75% of Brits under the age of 25 do not care about the coronation, compared to 18% who say they do.
Among the over 65s, there is a much nearer split. Some 53% of people in that age group said they do not care about the coronation, while 46% said they do.
Graham Smith, the CEO of the campaign group Republic, said the gap in attitudes was “growing into a chasm” and suggested that lesson plans developed by the UK Government to teach children about the monarchy were an effort to address concerns around it.
The Buckingham Palace-approved resources about the royals and Charles’s coronation have been sent to councils across England, Scotland, and Wales by the central Tory government, despite education being devolved.
