star survey
Eight percent of Germans want a king
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) with then Prince Charles, now king, at Bellevue Palace. An overwhelming majority of Germans would prefer the head of state not to be a monarch.
© Sean Gallup / Getty Images
The British royal family is good for gossip. When it comes to their own head of state, the vast majority of citizens in this country prefer a federal president to a monarch. Only the supporters of one party give a little more approval for a king.
At the end of March he will come for a state visit, in May he will be officially crowned: King Charles also receives a lot of attention in Germany. But the attitude towards the parliamentary monarchy has changed in a recent Forsa survey for the star according to little changed. Only eight percent of citizens would like it if there were a king or queen as the representative head of state in Germany instead of the Federal President. This is almost the same value as in 2015. At that time it was nine percent.
On the other hand, the vast majority of 89 percent of German citizens – across all population and voter groups – would not think it would be good if there were a parliamentary monarchy in Germany. Respondents who place themselves on the right-wing of the political spectrum (15 percent) and supporters of the AfD (14 percent) tend to express somewhat greater sympathy for a king or queen. On the other hand, very few Green voters want the monarchy back – just three percent.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute forsa for the RTL Group Germany on March 16 and 17, 2023. Database: 1005 respondents. Statistical error tolerance: +/- 3 percentage points