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ANNUAL MONARCHY POLL SHOWS QUEEN ELIZABETH LOSING GROUND

May 22 2009

London, U.K. – At one point in history monarchs ruled the world, literally. Kings, Queens, Emperors, Viceroys, Archdukes, and Barons once controlled the governments of the entire world, ruling over nearly the entire population. Things change of course and as the world evolved monarchies gave way to Presidents and
Prime Ministers. Currently there are only 44 monarchs in the world and many of them hold only ceremonial power. Despite that erosion of power the mere fact that so many that have outlived their practical usefulness and continued to rule is a testament to the true power of the position.

Of those 44 monarchs only a few are known the world over. As has been the case for decades, Queen Elizabeth is the most prominent of all monarchs. According to a recent poll it appears that for the first time in years her popularity has begun to slip suggesting that the Queen of Queens may be wearing out her welcome after more than sixty years on the job.

“What we decided to do with this particular poll was introduce a new series of metrics which we feel would give a more accurate portrait of true popularity. Queen Elizabeth
for example is the sovereign of 16 countries constituting more than 100 million people which gives her a massive base from which to draw. Queen Beatrix by comparison has one country and about 16 million people,” said Hans Reder of UComp which conducts the yearly monarch poll. “Transversely you have people like King Al Saud who has a very captive and dedicated audience. We felt we had to include factors such as population size and the threat of decapitation in order to draw a more accurate portrait of the world’s monarchs. That accounts for a great deal of the dip in Elizabeth’s popularity, but not all of it.”

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands ranked second with Prince Albert of Monaco a close third despite the relatively small population of his country. The poll was conducted before the assassination attempt earlier this year on Beatrix.

“We were actually very surprised at how close the polling was. There is little doubt that Elizabeth and the British royal family is the most famous and our assumption
going in was that people would default to them simply because they wouldn’t know who else to name but was not the case. One of the most surprising number we saw was from Japan where the Emperor is actually the third most beloved monarch,” continued Reder. “We feel this poll is the most accurate indicator yet of the true popularity of the world’s monarch’s. We will continue to tweak as things go forward but these new metrics give us a much clearer picture.”

It is expected that Queen Elizabeth’s popularity will bottom out upon her death and that such popularity won’t be restored to the British crown until after the death of King Charles.

“The real question here is what does it take to move up in the ranking? Elizabeth has
had a stranglehold on the top spot for years and that alone is going to get her a lot of votes. It also helps that her country has the widest sphere of influence and is one of the major global powers. They have precedence and great marketing working towards their advantage. In that environment what is a person like King Letsie of Lesotho supposed to do?” said Scrape TV Polling analyst Marvin Kendrick. “It’s a no win situation for many of these people and all they are left with is massive riches and a luxurious lifestyle. For many that may seem like enough but monarchs are the same as ordinary people for the most part and all they really want is the respect of their peers. If you’re the king of Swaziland or Bhutan you’re really low in the pecking order and really don’t have the opportunity to move up in the rankings, leaving you to be ridiculed and dismissed by all the more powerful monarchs.”

Like many of the monarchs themselves, the poll has no real legal value. Queen Elizabeth is reportedly ‘very concerned’ over the newest poll.  

Emil Uliya, International Correspondent  

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