Nearly half of young people aged between 18 and 35 in Britain would support Prince Harry returning to full-time royal duties, new polling has found, as the royal celebrated his 40th birthday on Sunday.
Harry stepped down from his role as a full-time working royal in January 2020, fulfilling his final engagements in March the same year before moving to the U.S. with his wife, Meghan Markle.
Since their split from the monarchy, Harry and Meghan have seen their popularity fluctuate on either side of the Atlantic, hitting an all-time low after the publication of the prince's memoir, Spare, in 2023.
In recent months, there has been speculation that Harry could one day resume royal duties if a reconciliation could be achieved with his brother, Prince William, and father, King Charles III.
In 2023, at the time of his memoir's publication, Harry was asked if he hoped he would play a role in the future of the monarchy.
"We always wanted to continue to serve," he told interviewer Tom Bradby of himself and Meghan, before going on to add: "If my father asks us for support across the Commonwealth then that is certainly an open discussion."
Despite this, there are no signs from Harry or Buckingham Palace that there are any plans for this to take place.
New polling, conducted by Ipsos among 1,097 British adults between 18 and 75 showed that the general public are split on Harry making a working return to the monarchy, though support is higher among the younger generations.
In the survey conducted between October 8 and 9, when asked "To what extent, if at all, would you support or oppose Prince Harry returning to complete royal duties on a permanent basis?" 37 percent said they were opposed, against 34 percent who said they would support the move, and 24 percent who said they would neither support nor oppose.
While the weight is still against a return for Harry, support for this has increased by 9 percent in just seven months.
Polling of the same question in March 2024 showed that 39 percent of respondents would oppose Harry returning to royal duties on a permanent basis, while just 25 percent would support it.
This boost comes as Harry has increased his public profile in the philanthropic sphere in recent months, undertaking two high-profile overseas tours with Meghan Markle to Nigeria and Colombia.
Harry's support base is strongest among young people, with 46 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 35 saying they would support Harry's permanent return to royal work in the most recent round of Ipsos polling. Just 20 percent said they would oppose the move and 28 percent said they neither supported nor opposed.
The prince is consistently more popular among the youngest generations in Britain and America, with a large focus of his Archewell Foundation, co-run with Meghan, focused on youth development.
In August, they couple launched the Archewell Foundation Parent's Network, a project aiming to help parents support the mental health of their children as they navigate online spaces.
In 2023, the prince added another youth-driven cause to the roster of charities and projects he supports by becoming global ambassador of Scotty's Little Soldiers, a charity which provides resources to bereaved children who have lost loved ones serving in the military.
Despite their philanthropic work, Harry and Meghan remain ranked among the most unpopular royals in Britain. Polling for Ipsos at the same time as the question on Harry's return to public duties found that Meghan has a net approval rating among Brits of -32, while Harry's sits slightly more favorably at -18.
By contrast, Princess Kate is the most popular royal in Britain according to Ipsos, with a net approval rating of +56, followed by Princess Anne at +53 and Prince William who has a net approval rating of +52.
Support for the monarchy remains high in the country, with 44 percent of survey respondents believing it would be "worse" for Britain if it were to abolish the institution, against 23 percent who said it would be "better." However, 27 said they believed abolishing the monarchy would make "no difference" to the country as a whole.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Harry via email for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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