MEGHAN Markle has been named the popular UK royal in the world – beating the likes of the Queen and Kate Middleton to clinch the top spot.
The former actress was crowned the top royal in a worldwide survey by OnBuy, with a popularity score of 14.5 per cent.
While Meghan has made fewer public appearances this year, due to coronavirus and relocating to California with Archie and Prince Harry, it seems her Zoom speeches and heartfelt essays have proved a hit with the public.
Hot on her heels was the Duchess of Cambridge, 38, who had a ranking of 14.4 per cent, and in third place was the Queen, 94, with a 14.3 per cent popularity score.
But the mum-of-three did come out on top in Instagram searches, with Kate known to be a keen photographer, often taking candid snaps of her three children.
Meghan, 39, won over the public despite her and Prince Harry announcing they were stepping back as senior royals earlier this year.
In stark contrast Prince Harry’s popularity has plunged in the wake of ‘Megxit’, with YouGov’s Royal favourability tracker showing the 36-year-old enjoying a 71 per cent positive rating last October, which fell to 55 per cent after the announcement.
A YouGov poll from June also showed Brits’ love for the flame-haired Prince had dropped over the last eight years, with 75 per cent of Brits considering him an asset to the nation, compared to just 35 per cent.
And while only nine per cent viewed him as a liability in June 2012, that figure has now risen to 38 per cent.
Despite Prince Harry falling out of favour with the British public, he beat his brother to be crowned the fourth most popular UK royal in the OnBuy survey, with a ranking of 14.2 per cent.
Prince William, 38, may have come in fifth place – but he was far behind his little brother in the rankings and only clinched 13.8 per cent in the popularity survey.
In last place is beleaguered Prince Andrew, who enjoyed a popularity rating of just eight per cent.
OnBuy said: “It has been an eventful year for us all, and the Royal Family are no exception.
“Beginning the year in the dawn of the Prince Andrew scandal and ending it with the fourth much debated season of The Crown, the Royal Family has remained a global spectacle during 2020.”
The tumultuous year for the Windsor’s saw the Royal family’s popularity score an average of just eight per cent, despite the intense interest in Netflix’s The Crown, which has been branded ‘fiction’ by culture secretary Oliver Dowden.
OnBuy collated the results from data sourced from across the globe, via YouGov rankings, Google search volumes, Instagram and the Royal calendar, was normalised and weighted to establish a popularity score percentage for each of the British Royals.
And this is how pregnant Zara Tindall paved the way for Meghan Markle by being the first royal to bravely speak about miscarriage.
Elsewhere X Factor winner Matt Cardle claims he and Meghan Markle just weren’t meant to be.
In other royal news, an HBO cartoon has sparked outrage as as seven-year-old Prince George and Royal Family are mocked in ‘cruel and unfair’ show.
