Men and women attach different degrees of importance to the Royal Family, and the gap is at its widest since after the wedding of Charles and Diana more than 30 years ago.
According to an important annual survey published today, women are more likely than men to think that it is important for Britain to continue to have a monarchy.
Every year since 1983 NatCen’s British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey asks over 3,000 people what it's like to live in Britain, and how they think the country is run.
The analysis of this year’s BSA findings shows that eight in 10 (79 per cent) women and two thirds (66 per cent) of men think that the monarchy is important for Britain.
Although men and women are equally likely to say that the monarchy is “quite important” (32 per cent and 33 per cent respectively), women are much more likely than men to say that the monarchy is ‘very important’. Some 46 per cent of women said this in 2015, compared to 34 per cent of men. The previous largest gap between then on the “very important” question was in the first survey in 1983, two years after the wedding of Charles and Diana.
Recent years have seen the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton , the Golden Jubilee , and the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte . It is thought these may have had an influence on female attitudes more than those of men.
But strong support for the monarchy peaked in 2012, when 46 per cent of the public (men and women) said it was “very important” for Britain to have a monarchy. Nat Cen says that with the birth of two royal babies since 2012 it might have been expected that support would continue to rise, however, it has remained fairly steady and in 2015, 40 per cent of people.
That was a lot lower than in 1983 when, even with the gender gap, two thirds of people (65 per cent) thought the monarchy was “very important”. In 2006 those saying that had fallen to the lowest level seen on BSA at just 27 per cent.
On September 9 at 17:30 the queen herself marked an important event with 23,226 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes on the throne. This surpassed the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. She had been opening the new £294m Scottish Borders Railway before retiring to Balmoral, to celebrate becoming the longest serving monarch.
The BSA researchers say forthcoming royal events this year may also have an impact on attitudes.
Ian Simpson, Senior Researcher at NatCen Social Research said: “Although less of the British public considers the monarchy important than they did in 1983, the institution has had a surge in popularity in the second decade of this century. This is perhaps unsurprising given that the nation has celebrated a number of royal milestones in the past few years: the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011, the Golden Jubilee in 2012, and the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte in 2013 and 2015. It is possible that a reason for the widest ever gap between male and female views of the monarchy, is that some of these more recent events have had more resonance with women than men. With the Queen’s 90th birthday approaching, it remains to be seen whether this celebration will deepen the nation’s belief in the importance of the monarchy.”
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