The British Royal Family has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world, including the United States. From their philanthropic endeavors to their enchanting personal lives, each member has a unique appeal.
The coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey was a once-in-a-lifetime event in the UK that brought the nation together in impressive, quite expensive celebrations. Elsewhere in the world, it also created a huge buzz on the news and social media, especially in the United States, where it drew a TV audience of roughly 11.7 million households.
But just how much does the British Royal Family captivate the United States? Historically, Americans’ views on the royal family members have been less fervent compared to those held by the British public. SuperBettingSites looked at Google search data to find out exactly who we’re searching for the most within the establishment.
Methodology
To uncover the most searched for members of the royal family, our team explored Google Trends, a free tool displaying the frequency of searched terms in Google’s search engine. It shows regional trends, as well as term popularity over time or relative to similar search terms. For our research, we checked the search interest of several members of the royal family over the past 12 months. This included King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex.
In order to obtain truthful, relevant results, we had to use the proper search terms. So, for instance, we checked the search interest for Kate Middleton rather than Catherine and for King Charles III instead of the more common King Charles, a term which could easily have been searched by people looking for the Stuart kings Charles I (who was executed in 1649) and his son Charles II (the one who embraced pleasure and fun unlike the rest of the Puritans from his time, for which he became known as the “Merry Monarch”). And what about the ten French kings who bore the same name? Charlemagne was actually Charles I.
Along with determining how many searches were done on the royal family over the past 12 months, we also looked at the geographical breakdown of the data. The results show which royalty was the most searched for in each state relative to the other similar terms we compared. The data in this feature displays interest in terms of percentage – in Alaska, for instance, Prince William was the most searched for member of the royal family in the past 12 months since 49% of the searches within this topic were about him.
Meghan Markle
Former actress and fashion blogger, Meghan Markle is the most searched for royalty on Google in the United States in terms of overall search interest with a search volume index of 18.1 against her husband’s index of 18. This is hardly surprising – after all, born and raised in Los Angeles, she is the only American member of the royal family. In the UK, the Duchess of Sussex became quite a controversial figure following the couple’s decision to abandon their responsibilities as working royals and then do the headline-making interview with Oprah. Americans seem to be fascinated with her, however, as revealed by the past 12 months’ searches on Google. She is the top searched royal in 22 states, including her home state of California, as well as in New York, Texas, and Nevada.
Prince Harry
In terms of search interest by states, Prince Harry is the most popular member of the royal family. He is the top searched term (compared to the others) in 27 states, while the overall index (18.0) for his name nearly reaches that of his spouse. Following the release of his memoir “Spared” in January, the Duke of Sussex was probably the most talked about person on the Internet. And this can be seen in the search volume changes for the term “Prince Harry”. There is a huge spike in the searches in the second week of January, with people wanting to find out more about the royal who decided to reveal the dirtiest secrets of his family. These were hardly the dirtiest, most provocative secrets everyone was hoping for but they were shocking enough, apparently.
Prince William
Over the past 12 months, Prince William was the most searched member of the royal family in only two states, namely Virginia and Alaska. The elder son of the King, who is also the heir apparent, is not very popular among Americans, at least compared to his brother and sister-in-law. It seems that while Brits have watched, sympathized with, or disliked the 40-year-old since his birth, Americans are not particularly familiar with or interested in the future king.
Kate Middleton
According to the Google Trends data for the past 12 months, Kate Middleton is not very popular among Americans. Ever since her wedding to Prince William in 2011, she has been one of the most talked about royals and celebrities in the United Kingdom. In recent years, however, mostly her stylish fashion choices have made the headlines, especially in the United States. In fact, she has been a fashion icon for American women for years and although they love her, the interest for her on Google simply cannot compare with the drama and controversy surrounding Harry and Meghan.
King Charles III
Interestingly, when we look for search volume data for King Charles III, he does not even make the top 3 most searched royalties in the United States. Of course, if we used the term “King Charles” for this research, the map would be very different but also quite unrealistic. The interest for the King is still sizable around the world but it cannot match the 1990s tabloids’ obsession with him, Princess Diana and Camilla Parker-Bowles. Queen Camilla is also absent from the map and is not even among the five most searched for royalties in the US.
Raw Data
| Region | King Charles III | Prince William | Prince Harry | Kate Middleton | Meghan Markle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6% | 19% | 29% | 17% | 29% |
| Alaska | 3% | 49% | 20% | 10% | 18% |
| Arizona | 6% | 16% | 33% | 14% | 31% |
| Arkansas | 7% | 19% | 34% | 15% | 25% |
| California | 4% | 14% | 32% | 14% | 36% |
| Colorado | 6% | 16% | 31% | 16% | 31% |
| Connecticut | 4% | 15% | 31% | 18% | 32% |
| Delaware | 5% | 17% | 31% | 17% | 30% |
| District of Columbia | 6% | 23% | 25% | 14% | 32% |
| Florida | 4% | 17% | 34% | 14% | 31% |
| Georgia | 5% | 16% | 33% | 13% | 33% |
| Hawaii | 5% | 15% | 34% | 12% | 34% |
| Idaho | 7% | 19% | 28% | 16% | 30% |
| Illinois | 5% | 14% | 33% | 14% | 34% |
| Indiana | 7% | 19% | 31% | 16% | 27% |
| Iowa | 5% | 17% | 34% | 13% | 31% |
| Kansas | 6% | 18% | 34% | 15% | 27% |
| Kentucky | 7% | 19% | 31% | 15% | 28% |
| Louisiana | 6% | 16% | 32% | 16% | 30% |
| Maine | 4% | 18% | 32% | 16% | 30% |
| Maryland | 5% | 21% | 30% | 13% | 31% |
| Massachusetts | 4% | 16% | 31% | 17% | 32% |
| Michigan | 5% | 16% | 32% | 14% | 33% |
| Minnesota | 5% | 17% | 30% | 17% | 31% |
| Mississippi | 6% | 16% | 30% | 17% | 31% |
| Missouri | 6% | 19% | 29% | 18% | 28% |
| Montana | 6% | 15% | 33% | 16% | 30% |
| Nebraska | 6% | 18% | 30% | 15% | 31% |
| Nevada | 6% | 16% | 32% | 13% | 33% |
| New Hampshire | 6% | 17% | 30% | 20% | 27% |
| New Jersey | 4% | 14% | 32% | 15% | 35% |
| New Mexico | 6% | 18% | 29% | 17% | 30% |
| New York | 4% | 14% | 33% | 15% | 34% |
| North Carolina | 6% | 16% | 32% | 15% | 31% |
| North Dakota | 5% | 17% | 32% | 16% | 30% |
| Ohio | 5% | 16% | 34% | 14% | 31% |
| Oklahoma | 7% | 17% | 32% | 15% | 29% |
| Oregon | 6% | 17% | 32% | 15% | 30% |
| Pennsylvania | 5% | 15% | 31% | 16% | 33% |
| Rhode Island | 5% | 18% | 32% | 17% | 28% |
| South Carolina | 5% | 18% | 29% | 18% | 30% |
| South Dakota | 9% | 18% | 31% | 14% | 28% |
| Tennessee | 6% | 19% | 30% | 17% | 28% |
| Texas | 5% | 16% | 31% | 14% | 34% |
| Utah | 5% | 17% | 30% | 18% | 30% |
| Vermont | 7% | 15% | 32% | 15% | 31% |
| Virginia | 2% | 63% | 14% | 6% | 15% |
| Washington | 5% | 16% | 34% | 14% | 31% |
| West Virginia | 4% | 21% | 30% | 17% | 28% |
| Wisconsin | 6% | 19% | 30% | 17% | 28% |
| Wyoming | 5% | 19% | 28% | 20% | 28% |