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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Laura Clements

The areas of Wales that love the Royal Family the most (and the least)

The royal family is under scrutiny now more than ever after a number of high profile headlines, including Prince Andrew's much-criticised interview and Prince Harry and Meghan's legal fight against the Mail on Sunday .

Much like Brexit divided the nation, so does does the topic of the Royal Family and whether it has a place in today's society .

But unlike Brexit, we don't get to have a vote on the Royal Family, so what would happen if we could?

A map of support for the monarchy shows shows there is a big difference across Wales.

The areas of Wales with the strongest support for the Royal Family (shown in darker colours)

Based on data from a poll by Focaldata, which questioned more than 20,000 people across the UK, the survey shows the west of Wales, the valleys and parts of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea are some of the least royalist areas in the whole country.

Commissioned by UnHerd, the results show support for the Royal Family dipping under 50% in constituencies including Ceredigion, Neath, Pontypridd, Swansea West and the Rhondda.

When the results are mapped, the divide between the urban areas and the rest of the country is clear.

Respondents were asked to what degree they agree with the statement: “I am a strong supporter of the continued reign of the Royal Family."

How the picture varied across the UK

Wales and Scotland are the areas of Great Britain that have some of the lowest support for the Royal Family (Focaldata for Unherd. © Crown copyright and database right 2018)

The overall results demonstrate that the monarchy continues to enjoy a healthy degree of support among the electorate.

However this is less clear cut in Wales where, overall, only 48% agreeing with the statement that they supported the Royal Family, 25% disagreeing and 28% not sure, there is a stark difference within Wales.

Among the Welsh constituencies, the least-royalist is Swansea East, where just four in ten people give their approval to the monarchy.

There is a stark contrast within Cardiff, with 41% of those in Cardiff Central backing the royals compared to 52% in Cardiff North.

Support was highest in Montgomeryshire where 61% gave their approval.

Across the UK, Liverpool Riverside was the last supportive constituency with support at just 32%. Old Blexley and Sidcup in London was the most supportive with 68% agreeing that they were “strong supporters” of the royals.

The poll results were published a day after Prince Andrew announced he would “ step back from public duties for the foreseeable future ”.

He had been under pressure following his interview with the BBC about his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Focaldata poll questioned  21,119 people between January 15 and November 4 2019 using an online panel provider and used a multilevel regression and post-stratification model to extrapolate the data for each constituency.

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