For those who keep abreast of King Charles' fortunes, we might think that he is winning in the court of public opinion. He is working at a rate that would exhaust many people younger than him even if they weren't living with cancer.
His diary in the past week has included hosting a state visit from the Sultan of Oman, travelling to Aberfan to meet survivors of the 1966 disaster and travelling to the Caribbean for a royal tour and to unite the Commonwealth.
And yet the latest opinion poll on the King makes for disheartening reading. He has dropped seven points in the most recent favourability survey by YouGov, giving him the lowest rating in all of the 26 polls conducted during his reign.
© Getty ImagesThe proportion of people who think positively of the King is 58%, against 34% who hold a negative opinion, giving him a score of +24. Back in July, his score was +31.
Being optimistic, this sudden drop is not as bad as it first appears. The summer poll was unusually buoyant, perhaps influenced by the King's successful state visit to the US. Today's poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday last week, could be seen as a return to normality; it is only two points lower than his rating in April.
Why is Charles' rating at an all-time low?
Even so, it is a notable low for him. The last time people had a dimmer view of him was in May 2022, in the final months of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Upon her death, the King gained public sympathy and respect that he has largely held onto since.
So what has caused this slump?
The most obvious explanation is Earl Spencer's attack in his memoir Swan Song, in which he accused the King of being "giddily elated" at the death of his former wife, Diana, in 1997. The Earl's claim that Charles, then Prince of Wales, told him that "we'll forget her soon enough" prompted a rare rebuttal from Buckingham Palace.
Another plausible reason is the Harry effect. The King's instruction, via the Lord Chamberlain, that the Duke of Sussex should be treated as a private citizen, and Harry's team's response that he was "surprised" by such a declaration, may have come across as mean-spirited. The froideur between Harry and the rest of his family may have been compounded by Harry's decision to do yet another interview to discuss personal matters, this time with GQ magazine.
For the King, his popularity may soon worsen again. His lowest ever rating was in 2017, soon after the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, when both he and Queen Camilla dropped markedly. The 30th anniversary, next year, may prompt a similar pattern. Earl Spencer's book, and rumours that Harry will participate in a documentary to honour his mother's memory, are just the beginning.
