Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's UK Popularity Takes Nosedive After Oprah Interview, Poll Shows

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's popularity in the U.K. plummeted following their explosive sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey Sunday, a new poll has found.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened up about what led to their departure from the royal family, but it seems the British are far from impressed as a new YouGov poll showed that their popularity in the nation has never been lower.

The poll found that 48% of the 1,664 respondents had a "negative attitude" toward Prince Harry, a 15-point drop from his rating a week prior to the Oprah interview. About 45% still view the Duke of Sussex positively. This is the first time Prince Harry's net favorability rating has been negative, Reuters noted.

On the other hand, 58% viewed Markle negatively after the tell-all, while 31% of respondents have a positive opinion of the Duchess of Sussex.

There was also a division between generations, with the majority of those aged 18 to 24 supporting Prince Harry and Markle. Meanwhile, those over 65 years old have mostly negative opinions of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

In November 2020, YouGov also conducted a popularity poll among the members of the royal family and found a "significant" drop in the Sussexes' favorability rating compared to when they were still with the royal family.

Based on that poll, 48% of adult respondents favored Prince Harry, while 47% viewed him negatively, which gave him a net score of 1. His favorability score at the time was 19 points lower compared to his numbers in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Markle was the "second lowest" among the entire royal family in terms of net favorability, based on YouGov's "Royal Favorability Tracker." However, the couple remained popular among adults aged 18 to 24 in the U.K.

Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, previously weighed in on the Sussexes' popularity plummeting after their royal departure. She explained that she wanted to feature them on the cover of the magazine, but their issues do not sell anymore.

Seward had stopped having Prince Harry and Markle on Majesty's cover "a while ago." She said she was also informed by Hello magazine that they observed the same.

"It just wasn't selling, the magazine wasn't selling when they were on the cover," the royal author said. "I would like to have them on the cover, but it just doesn't seem to work. I find that weird and interesting."