Who is more popular in the kingdom? Prince William, Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp or team captain Jordan Henderson (from left)?
(Photo: Ian Walton/dpa)
Prince William is a reserved, decent and actually quite likeable 39-year-old with the hairstyle of a 59-year-old. He is second in line to the throne, along with his father Charles he is the future of the British monarchy. According to polls, he is ahead of Charles in the favor of most royalists. Opinion studies have not yet researched where William falls in favor with football fans, but there is no need to, because it is part of the character of a football fan to often express their opinions directly and loudly. On Saturday, at the FA Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium, as William shook hands on the pitch with a handshake to each and every Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC player, Liverpool FC fans fervently booed him.
Boos for the royals – right now!
Now, Liverpool fans are not necessarily representative of the UK population, nowhere is the monarchy more unpopular than in left-wing Liverpool. It goes so far that fans boo and whistle even when the national anthem is sung, “God save the Queen”. They’ve been doing this since before the Queen was a 96-year-old woman with a cane, and yet moments like Saturday’s are now making royalists nervous. Some Sunday newspapers wrote on the front page about their anger at the boos – just now. Just before the big event.
The celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne will last four full days, from June 2nd to 5th, including two specially proclaimed public holidays. It begins with the Trooping the Color parade on Thursday, followed by a memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, the Epsom horse race on Saturday and a colourful, carnival-like parade at Buckingham Palace on Sunday. Various concerts and parties take place in between, and street festivals are also celebrated in many settlements on Sundays, for which a roadblock can be ordered using the online form.
The preparations for all of this have been going on for many weeks, the country is looking forward to these four days in June, there is no doubt about that. Holidays and street parties, what can be wrong with that? There’s even an official dessert for the festival: A few days ago, a sugar bomb made of foam rolls, lemon and amaretti was chosen as “Platinum Pudding” from among 5,000 applicants.
It is said that more than a quarter of Britons want the monarchy to end
On the other hand: In one published at the end of last week Survey by the Yougov Institute For the anti-monarchy movement “Republic”, more than a quarter of Britons want an end to the monarchy, among those under 25 the figure is even 40 percent. The Republicans have been comparatively silent in the kingdom for some time, probably out of respect for Elizabeth II and her age, but one cannot shake the impression that the British are just as passionately devoted to the question of the future of the monarchy these days as they are the preparations for the festival.
The matter is complex, plus a number. Yougov regularly measures the popularity of famous people, Prince William comes to a remarkable value of 66 percent. That’s a whopping 22 percent more than the Liverpool manager’s Jürgen Klopp.