MARRIAGE has increased public support for the Prince of Wales to become King, but the vast majority of people remain implacably opposed to his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, becoming Queen.

One year on from the wedding at Windsor Guildhall, 64 per cent of people questioned in a Populus poll for The Times said that they did not care either way about the union. The figure will be a disappointment to Clarence House, as it shows a slight deterioration on last year, even though the poll was conducted at the weekend after the warm reviews for the couple’s first extended overseas tour — to Egypt and India.

Buckingham Palace will be surprised as the first anniversary of the marriage approaches on Sunday. Usually there is a rise in popularity after a royal wedding. In 1981, after the marriage of the Prince to Lady Diana Spencer, a similar poll showed 94 per cent believed that the marriage would increase the popularity of the monarchy, with 61 per cent of people calling the new Princess of Wales their favourite royal.

Clarence House will be heartened, however, by the 6 per cent rise in the number of people who think that he should succeed the Queen. The figure now stands at 37 per cent, but he still lags behind Prince William on 39 per cent — unchanged on a year ago. Prince Charles’s support was strongest among the middle classes, at 44 per cent, and lowest, at 27 per cent, among the working classes.

But there was no improvement in the ratings of the Duchess of Cornwall, who increasingly has been by her husband’s side on official engagements. Only 21 per cent were happy to see the Duchess become Queen, with 56 per cent preferring her to take the planned title of Princess Consort.

When the engagement was announced, Clarence House said that it was “intended” that the Duchess would become Princess Consort on the succession. But it is the private wish of the Prince for his wife to become his Queen when he succeeds to the throne. The Prince hopes that public opinion will swing behind his wife in time and that objections to her taking the title will fade.

The figures reveal more hostility to the royal couple among women who were sympathetic to Diana, Princess of Wales, and disapproving of the Prince’s adultery with the woman who became his wife.

The poll suggests that 60 per cent of women are opposed to her becoming Queen compared with 53 per cent of men. Among men, Prince Charles is the choice of 42 per cent to become monarch compared with 30 per cent for William. Among women, 46 per cent want the young Prince to take over with only 32 per cent in favour of his father. David Starkey, the royal historian, was not surprised by the figures. He said: “There is no great hostility, a little bit of enthusiasm. The monarchy is the ancestor of new Labour. It had an unbelievably powerful populist narrative for much of the 20th century as this model family, which carried all before them.

“The Queen is acting as a symbol for continuity, but no one knows what she is continuous with. People, by and large, have come to the conclusion that Charles is trying and the fact that he has shown himself to be a good father in the Diana mould has softened opinion towards him.

“However odd some of his interventions in public life may appear, they have turned out to be quite sensible and they are all well intentioned . . . public opinion is warming to Camilla as a woman. Yet for a significant proportion of women the Diana factor is an unbridgeable gulf. I happen to think they are mad for thinking that.”

When news of the Prince’s affair with Camilla first broke, it marked a nadir in his public approval ratings. Commentators speculated that the Prince could have trouble appearing in public again. On one occasion, at a supermarket, shoppers pelted Camilla with bread rolls. Since then a determined PR campaign has raised the public standing of the Duchess. According to this survey, more remains to be done.

• The Populus poll for The Times was undertaken from March 31 to April 2 among a sample of 1,503 adults aged over 18. For more details see www.populuslimited.com

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