Prince Edward is named joint least popular royal alongside Andrew

Prince Edward is named joint least popular royal with his shamed older brother Andrew with 1% of vote in MailOnline poll – as pictures of him as a young man reveal how he was once a royal knockout

• Edward came joint last in poll which asked readers to name their favourite royal 
• Result comes despite the Earl of Wessex being the third most hard working 
• As a young man, the Queen’s son had a reputation as an unlikely heartthrob 

Prince Edward was today named the joint least popular royal alongside his shamed elder brother Andrew – with the 58-year-old racking up just one per cent of the vote in a poll of MailOnline readers. 

The result comes despite the Earl of Wessex being the third most hard working royal last year having carried out 143 engagements – behind Princess Anne’s 214 and King Charles’s 181. 

Edward and his wife, the Countess of Wessex, 58, are regularly cheered by crowds on royal engagements – while Sophie enjoyed an enviable position in Queen Elizabeth II’s household as one of the late monarch’s closest confidants. 

The Earl has recently  been portrayed on Netflix series The Crown by 28-year-old actor Angus Imrie, prompting fans to rediscover photos of the young prince and comment on his good looks. 

Prince Edward attending the Windsor Horse Show on May 16, 1982. As a young man Edward gained a reputation as an unlikely heartthrob

Prince Edward cycling around Cambridge during his student days and on horseback in 1993

The prince dons sunglasses as he attends a polo match at Smiths Lawn in Windsor on June 6, 1982

The MailOnline survey asked readers to name their favourite royal. Catherine, the Princess of Wales, came out on top with 36 per cent of the vote followed by Prince William on 26 per cent.

Princess Anne also scored well on 17 per cent followed by King Charles on eight per cent, while bringing up the rear were Edward and Andrew – joint on one per cent – and Meghan on two per cent.

Edward is known as a hardworking and dedicated member of the Royal Family, even if he doesn’t attract the same public attention as some of his relatives. 

A rare slip-up in his long royal career was his 1987 appearance on an episode of the BBC’s It’s A Royal Knockabout alongside the Duke of Duchess of York and Princess Anne. 

The show – which saw participants take part in a series of challenges and also featured John Travolta and Cliff Richard dressed as a leek – was panned by critics, with Jonathan Dimbleby describing it as the Royal Family’s ‘nadir’.

Royal historian Ben Pimlott was equally withering, calling it ‘excruciating’ and saying it ‘made the public stunningly aware that a sense of decorum was not an automatic quality in the Royal Family’. 

Edward and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, at Buckingham Palace on November 22 

Edward in 1987 when he appeared in an infamous episode of It’s A Royal Knockout

Edward at the Windsor Horse Show in 1987 (left) and watching polo at Windsor 

Edward with the Queen at the Badminton Horse Trials on April 1, 1980 

Poll

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It comes after a separate survey found public approval ratings for all royals had slipped since the publication of Prince Harry’s controversial memoir – with the Prince and Princess of Wales suffering the biggest loss.

Figures released by Ipsos Mori suggest less than a quarter of Britons hold a favourable view of the Duke of Sussex- but the royal who has suffered the most since the furore began is his brother Prince William.

The heir to the throne saw his popularity decline by 8 percentage points since December 22, with his wife Kate tied with Prince Harry at a loss of 7 points. Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, also had her rating drop.

It also emerged that less than a quarter of those polled (23 per cent) said they planned to read Prince Harry’s memoir – which has become the fastest selling non-fiction book after 750,000 copies were sold in the UK in its first week. 

Prince William remains the most liked royal with a positive rating of 61 per cent, while Kate and Princess Anne tie for second on 60 per cent. 

Prince Andrew’s popularity languished at the bottom of the scale, with just 10 per cent of those surveyed saying they held a ‘favourable’ view of the Duke of York. 

Edward marking his 21st birthday while a student at Cambridge University 

The prince with his Labrador dog ‘Frances’ in the grounds of Buckingham Palace on a photo to mark his 18th birthday 

It comes after a separate survey found public approval ratings for all royals had slipped since the publication of Prince Harry’s controversial memoir – with the Prince and Princess of Wales suffering the biggest loss 

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