All Eyes on the Palace

The popularity of the monarchy has surged in New Zealand since April’s royal wedding, with a big fall in the number of people expecting the country to become a republic. A new poll by research company UMR shows 33 per cent expect New Zealand to abandon the monarchy within 20 years, compared with 52 per cent who expect the royal link to be retained. The rest were unsure. The figures are a stunning reversal of those recorded when the same question was asked in 2005. At that time 58 per cent expected the monarchy to be ditched, with just 29 per cent believing it would be retained. New Zealanders became caught up in the enthusiasm for the wedding, with more than half of all adults saying they watched the ceremony “closely” on television, according to the UMR survey. Chairman of Monarchy New Zealand Simon O’Connor said the royal wedding had “brought attention back to why the monarchy is something we enjoy being part of”.