Support for monarchy 'at record low' ahead of US President Donald Trump's UK state visit

Support for the monarchy has hit a record low although more than half of people favour keeping the royals over an elected head of state, according to new research.

The proportion of people believing it is important to keep the monarchy has fallen from 86%, when the question was first asked in 1983 for the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, to 51% in 2024.

This is the lowest level of support recorded since the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) began tracking public opinion some 40 years ago.

The survey findings come ahead of the state visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK.

The King will host the US leader at Windsor Castle from September 17 to September 19, when Trump will be feted with a ceremonial welcome and a state banquet.

Donald Trump to visit the King at Windsor Castle next week. STV News

The trip will be Trump’s second state visit to the UK, an unprecedented gesture for a US president.

According to the latest polling by NatCen, around one in three (31%) felt the monarchy was not important when asked last year, up from one in ten in 1983.

Some 15% now say they support the abolition of the monarchy, up from just 3% in 1983.

In a new question, survey participants were asked to choose between keeping the monarchy or replacing it with an elected head of state.

More than half (58%) said they favoured retaining the monarchy, with 38% saying they would prefer an elected head of state.

The results also showed younger people were more likely to favour an elected head of state, and that keeping the monarchy was a stance strongest among supporters of the Conservative and Reform UK parties (82% and 77% respectively).

Labour supporters were almost evenly split, with 49% wanting to keep the monarchy and 48% favouring an elected head of state.

More than half of survey participants identifying as Scottish and almost two thirds of Welsh survey participants said they favoured an elected head of state, at 59% and 64% respectively.

Support for the monarchy was strongest among those identifying as British (62%) or English (68%).

In an accompanying blog, NatCen said: “Support for the monarchy is strongest among older, right-leaning individuals, while those who favour an elected head of state tend to be younger and more left-leaning.”

Alex Scholes, NatCen research director, said: “Support for the monarchy is now at its lowest level since our records began, with more people than ever questioning its future.

“At the same time, when asked to choose directly, a majority of the public still prefer to keep the monarchy over moving to an elected head of state.

“This tension, between declining importance and continued preference, will be crucial in shaping debates about the monarchy’s role in the years ahead.”

The latest BSA survey consisted of 4,120 interviews with a representative, random sample of adults in the United Kingdom and was conducted between September 16 and October 27, 2024.

While the latest BSA 2024 survey included participants living in Northern Ireland for the first time, the numbers were too small to give a breakdown for this group.