The New Murrey and Blue blog

Polls are always interesting, whether for getting it wrong at General Elections or coming up with figures that take everyone so by surprise that no one believes them. If you go to this link—https://tinyurl.com/5c64bp23—you’ll find that YouGov has set about composing, in order of popularity and familiarity, a league of English/British monarchs….and an accompanying article that gives more information.

Be warned in advance that the figures (which are in percentages) and tables in the above YouGov link are confusing (at least, they were to me), but they’re all laid out in three separate tables, as well as a chart concerning their “Houses”) so have at them!

I suppose it’s no surprise that the late Queen Elizabeth II (reigned 1952-2022) consistently tops the figures . She was on the throne for the entire lives of most of the population and she was superb in the role that fate thrust upon her. Her son and successor, King Charles III (reigning from 2022 to present), is probably facing an impossible task to equal her, let alone better her. She came to the throne as a young bride and lived a long life, whereas he was getting on before he first wore the crown. Unfair odds.

But what of all the previous kings and queens, going way back to William I, of whom the YouGov article declares “….a third of Britons (32) today have a positive opinion of the Norman invader. However, a further 20 have an unfavourable view of William I (reigned 1066-1087), perhaps preferring to dub him with his other moniker: William the Bastard….” Oh, dear, I’m afraid I number among the latter. He was a horrible man. In my opinion. No doubt many of you will disagree.

Anyway, in the first table (“Who are the most popular kings and queen of England and Britain?”), the scores are given in three figures, Favourable, Don’t know/Never heard of, and Unfavourable. I will only give the Favourable figure. If my arithmetic is correct, the top five are as follows:

1. Elizabeth II with a score of 84.
2. Victoria, 62.
3. Charles III, 58.
4. Elizabeth I/George VI, 49.
5. Richard I/George V, 41.

Well, how on earth Richard I (reigned 1189-1199) achieved such a score is beyond me. The fellow hardly knew where to find England, let alone set foot in it. He was King for Himself, period. His motto should have been Conspicuous by his Absence.

As for the Don’t know/Never heard of figures, I’m appalled to think there are so many people who might never have heard of our past monarchs. 87 don’t know or have never heard of King John (reigned 1199-1216)? Good grief. If nothing else, surely they know the numerous films/TV series dealing with Robin Hood? Oh, what an abysmal reflection on our education system, and what a vacuum in these individuals’ general knowledge. To truly belong to a country, one should know its history, and the United Kingdom has an amazing history.

Anyway, obviously we are interested in how Richard III (reigned 1483-1485) rated in this poll. His full figures in the first table are 19 Favourable, 61 Don’t know/Never heard of, and 21 Unfavourable.

As a matter of interest, Richard’s usurper, Henry VII (reigned 1485-1509),  has the same Favourable score, but is marginally better in the other two figures. Edward IV only managed 11 and Henry VI 13. As for Edward V, well when it came to Don’t know/Never heard of, he polled a massive 80! What? That damned urn and poor old Richard the Original Wicked Uncle have passed them by? Oh, woe….!

So, to quote the YouGov article: “….Despite William Shakespeare’s best efforts, he has not quite immortalised Richard III as a villain in the eyes of the public. Public opinion on the supposedly hunch-backed king is split, with 19 having a favourable view and 20 an unfavourable view….”  Well, there was a time, no so long back, when the scales would have so plunged on the Unfavourable side they’d have clanged as they hit the bottom. There’s no gainsaying we’ve made progress….but much more is needed to bring Richard to the high position he merits. It’s a crying shame that he was murdered by traitors at Bosworth, because we will now never know how great a king he would have been. Because he would have been great, the proceedings of his only Parliament heralded that.

The third and final table (“Which kings and queens are Britons most familiar with?”) gave Richard III a rating of 40 (Queen Elizabeth Il was 94!) However, my other “favourite” king, Richard II (reigned1377–1399) fared worse, scoring only 27. Oh dear. But I still support him, because, like Richard III, he is consistently misrepresented and fibbed about.

I think by now you’ll agree that it all becomes confusing, and I’ve probably increased the confusion! (Apologies!) But read and enjoy the YouGov poll and article, and see if it meets with your approval.

PS: Since writing the above I have come across another site dealing with these lists of monarchs, and which is perhaps easier to comprehend at first glance! You’ll find it here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-14381389/most-popular-monarch-revealed-king-charles-iii.html.