THE reputation of the British male as a cold fish has been challenged by research indicating that he is the world’s greatest romantic.

The men of this country rate love in a relationship more highly than those of any other nation, even the supposed lotharios of Italy and France.

When choosing their future wives, most men in the 37-nation study concentrated on social status, financial background and good looks. British men, by contrast, were more likely to see love as the most important factor.

“The results show that British men are attracted to a mate by love more than men in any of the other countries. They are also attracted the least by status and wealth,” said Todd Shackelford, a psychologist at Florida Atlantic University who led the research.

Louise Malet, a Frenchwoman who lives in Oxford and is married to an Englishman, was unsurprised by the findings. “I think Englishmen are more romantic. With Frenchmen, it can be a lot of fluff and not much substance,” said Malet. “Latin culture is more about being macho, with men seeing women as an accessory to confirm their own status, which is exhausting.”

The researchers came to their conclusions after analysing the responses of almost 10,000 men and women.

They asked participants to rate 18 characteristics in a potential partner on a scale from “indispensable” to “irrelevant”.

This allowed the researchers to identify four “trade-offs” of contrasting characteristics: love and romance against wealth and social standing; good looks against dependability; intelligence against desire to have children; and gregariousness against religious compatibility.

In contrast to the love-struck British, Colombian men were the most inclined to marry for money and social status.

Italian men came third in the importance they gave to romance, behind British and Dutch males. Frenchmen were 10th, behind such countries as Finland, Ireland and Japan.

The researchers found that men from Norway and Ireland were most likely to rate a stable personality as more important than good looks, while British men were the 10th most likely to value physical appearance.

In the trade-off between intellect and the “home-making instinct”, Dutch and Spanish men were the most likely to value the intelligence of their potential wives.

Jordi Moncada, 29, a management consultant from Madrid, agreed with this assessment. “I look for someone who doesn’t need us to be together all the time,” he said. “I also look for a good education and natural intelligence.”

Shackelford’s team also measured the qualities favoured by women. British women were more pragmatic than their male counterparts, being more likely to compromise love for wealth and high social rank.

Overall, the findings bear out the long-held view that women value social status more highly while men are more interested in physical attractiveness.

Despite chilly male characters in classic British novels, such as Mr Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Dr David Nias, a clinical psychologist at St Bartholomew’s hospital, London, said an emphasis on romance was rooted in the country’s culture. “Following all our history and tradition, the caricature of the English gentleman still applies,” said Nias. “We are romantic in a quiet way.”

Nick Norman, 24, a clerical worker from Kent, rates himself as a typically romantic British man. “Romance isn’t about material things,” he said. “It’s in the spontaneous gesture that means something — turning up somewhere unannounced or going out of your way for someone. Someone’s background makes no difference.”

Leah McLaren, a Canadian journalist who left Britain in disillusionment two years ago, after writing that the average British male was a “repressed homosexual” who “knows little to nothing about courtship”, conceded that the findings may have some validity. “They’re not very good at courtship, although that can just be the external trappings. Their hearts are in the right place,” she said.

Claims about the romantic natures of British men contradict other recent studies. A report by the London School of Economics found half of men in their twenties avoid relationships. In separate research, 12% of men admitted to cheating on their wives or girlfriends at least four times.

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