Symphony Question: Does the Royal Family make the UK a better country?

After our successful Young People’s General Election, we’ve decided to ask young people in our member schools a question every week. We call them Symphony Questions. We’re into our second week, question and result!

Involving 2,000 pupils in 7 schools across the UK, we asked:

Do you think having a Royal Family makes Britain a better country?

Result: In Some Ways

Involving schools in London, the North East, Yorkshire, South East and Suffolk, it’s a win for ‘in some ways’.

Good to see that young people have a nuanced view of the Royal Family with the winning option taking 42% of the vote.

Interestingly, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ claim a very similar proportion of the result, taking 27% and 23% respectively - seemingly bucking national trends (more on that in a moment).

‘I don’t know’ languishes with just 8%. Not a lot of apathy to be found on this topic.

What does the result tell us?

As an individual with a strong view on the Royal Family, I find this difficult to write. But here we go…

According to Statista, popular support for the Royal Family is highest amongst older generations; with 77% of over-55’s say that they support the Royal Family.

Whilst it’s been a tricky couple of months for the Royal Family, our results suggest that many young people do see some benefit to the country

More young people believe they make Britain a better place than don’t, and most believe that there are some benefits we enjoy from having one.

Although it should be stated that despite this broad support, the institution isn’t without it’s criticism - 23% of young people say ‘no’.

Next week’s Symphony Question:

This week Brexit is really happening. What do you think the effects will be?

Our New Year’s Resolution to our membership is to help them come up with relevant, engaging and thoughtful questions to help get all pupils having their say. Schools usually come up with their own meetings, but we’re giving them additional questions if they’d like them.

Following the successful trial of this form in our General Election Question Series, for 2020 we’ll be recommending a blend of action-led & topical questions to ask each week.

Want to get involved or suggest a question? Send us an email at [email protected]