With less than two weeks left until King Charles’ official coronation, a new poll suggests Canada’s new monarch may have a tough road ahead of winning over Canadians – and his wife Camilla’s support appears weaker.
Although the May 6 event is likely to be the first coronation, many Canadians will have the opportunity to witness it for themselves – most recently when Charles’ mother, Elizabeth II was crowned 70 years ago in 1953 – how many Canadians say they are looking forward to a small event.
A new survey by the Angus Reid Institute shows that most respondents (60%) oppose even recognizing Charles as king. Only 28% have a favorable opinion of Charles, while nearly half (48%) do not.
And the news is equally bad when it comes to their opinion of Charles’ wife.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth last September, there was much speculation and controversy surrounding Camilla’s name with Charles taking over as king. Initially, she was the Queen’s Queen, a title the late Queen upheld before her death. But when Buckingham Palace sent out invitations to May’s coronation, it was only Queen Camilla.
During the mourning period, there was potential for confusion if a poll found most Canadians didn’t want Charles as King Queen was used to refer to both Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Camilla,” CBC News earlier this month said.
“With the coronation, there was only one king and one queen, Charles III and Queen Camilla.”
This clearly does not sit well with some Canadians.
Two-thirds (66%) of respondents from the Angus Reid Institute said they were opposed to even recognizing Camilla as Queen of Canada. The majority (60%) say she shouldn’t be called a “Queen”. Only 21% think she should be called the Queen, while 19% said she should be called the Queen.
“Canadians are absolutely adamant about their views on whether the monarchy represents a modern institution, and in fact an institution that they would like to see at the head of Canadian law, politics and the constitution. For generations to come,” Chachi Corll, president of the Angus Reed Institute, told CBC News.
And the answer is no. »
Support for the monarchy declined
Support for the monarchy has generally declined in Canada and is lowest in Quebec.
In this latest poll, more than half (52%) of respondents said they did not want Canada to continue being a constitutional monarchy for future generations, and the vast majority (88%) said they would. Beautiful opening of the constitution to sever ties. In Quebec, 66% of respondents oppose Canada remaining a constitutional monarchy.
Overall, 45% of respondents said they would prefer to open the constitution to sever ties with the monarchy, while only a third (33%) believe that Canada should remain a constitutional monarchy for future generations.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the setting’s crowning glory isn’t necessarily high on the list of things to do in Canada.
While the majority of those polled (59%) said they would give some attention to the coronation on May 6, only 9% said they were really looking forward to it. One in five (20%) said they might follow some of it, while 29% said they might read about it, but aren’t really interested.
Anti-monarchy protesters were part of the crowd that welcomed King Charles and Camilla, the Queen’s Queen, during a visit to Colchester, England.
Corll said those figures would make those at Buckingham Palace uncomfortable.
“It is not as if Canadians in the streets are preparing to protest against the monarchy, but the degree of inconsistency and ‘subtlety’ of Canada – a very important country within the British realm – would not be of great concern.”
It’s a matter of convenience, Corll said.
“There is less and less affinity for the monarchy among Canadians than there was 70 years ago, when the Queen herself ascended to the throne and became King. At that time, Canada was a country with close cultural and familial ties to the United Kingdom. … Today, the demographics of Canada are very different .
Greater affection for Queen Elizabeth
Although the Canadians may never have felt great affection for Charles, they embraced his mother until the end of her life.
Surveys conducted by the Angus Reid Institute some 96 years ago found that 63% of those surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of her and 59% said they would mourn her death.
But none of his potential heirs – including Charles’ son Prince William – are very popular.
Only three in ten told the Angus Reid Institute they viewed Charles favorably (28%) and more than half (52%) thought he would do a worse job as king than his mother. About one in five (21%) think he will do as well as his mother, while only 3% think he will do better.
It’s not surprising that the transition has faced some challenges, given that the monarchy and Queen Elizabeth have become inseparable from each other during her long reign, Robert Finch, president of the Royal League of Canada, told CBC News.
He believes that over time, Canadians will support Charles as they did his mother as they learn more about him.
He cited some of the overtures made by Charles as prince.
“Things like reconciliation with Indigenous people, working with young Canadians and their entrepreneurship, the whole environmental movement — I mean, Charles was an environmental activist long before the green movement became mainstream,” said Finch.
“It’s the Canadian values that people will look at and say, yeah, I can relate to that.”
According to the poll, Prince William and his wife Catherine are viewed more favorably than Charles, but they still have less support than Elizabeth. Among Canadian respondents in general, 53% have a favorable opinion of William, while that number is 56% for Katherine.
However, among those who said they did not support retaining Canada as a constitutional monarchy, support for the couple dropped to 36 and 41 percent, respectively.
However, it is worth noting that among those who say they support keeping Canada in a constitutional monarchy, they have a more positive impression of William and Catherine (83% support each) than Charles (62%) or Camilla (62%). 43%). one hundred).
Survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute of a representative random sample of 2013 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Online Forumh April 10-12, 2023. The margin of error for a probability sample of this size is +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
