Majority think royal baby will be king: poll

Kate faces pressure to lose weight.

AFP/London

Almost three quarters of Britons think newborn Prince George will be king and the country will not opt for a republic before his turn arrives, a poll said.

Some 74% believe baby George, born Monday, will take the throne to which he is third in line, The ComRes poll for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper found.

The poll appears to represent a surge in confidence in the royal family: ComRes found in 2011 that 57% thought there would still be a monarch in 50 years.

In the latest poll, only 9% thought Britain would abolish its monarchy to become a republic before George accedes to the throne.

Baby George has been the subject of a media frenzy, with news channels offering wall-to-wall coverage in the days surrounding his birth. He is the first child of Prince William and wife Catherine, whose spectacular wedding in 2011 helped to renew the country’s affection for a monarchy tarnished by scandals during the late 20th century.

Some 66% told pollsters they thought Britain was better off as a monarchy, with 17% favouring ditching the royal family.

Queen Elizabeth II, 87, was the most popular royal, with 26% of Britons citing her as their favourite. After the Queen came second in line to the throne William, 31, his brother Harry, 28, and then glamorous Catherine, the former Kate Middleton.

But heir to the throne Prince Charles, who lost favour during his public split with princess Diana and is perceived as meddling in government affairs, was the favourite of just 4% of respondents. Some 43% thought the £36.1mn that taxpayers spend each year on the royals, excluding the cost of security, was good value for money, but 40% said it was not.

Anti-monarchists in Britain are spearheaded by pressure group Republic, which launched an online campaign under the hashtag .bornequal to coincide with George’s birth.

But it has failed to win many new converts, with republicans making up about 15% of Britons for the past 10 years, according to polls.

The Queen is currently head of state in another 15 Commonwealth realms as well as Britain. ComRes interviewed 2,005 adults online on July 24 and 25, 2013, with the data then weighted to be representative of all Britons aged 18 and over.

Kate weight coverage disgraceful: minister

Guardian News and Media/London

Society and the media are putting new mothers under appalling pressure to lose their baby weight, according to a government minister who has also criticised the “disgraceful focus” on the Duchess of Cambridge’s body following the birth of her son.

Jo Swinson, the minister for women and equalities who is expecting her first child, said the media needed to rethink its attitude towards birth and women’s bodies.

“At a time when new mums are focused on building bonds with their newborns, the media unhelpfully churns out a set of impossible standards on losing baby weight within ridiculous timeframes,” she told the Sunday Times.

“We need to move away from the idea that women have to shed their baby weight quickly and that they’re failing somehow if they don’t. Surveys show this is a concern for two-thirds of new mothers.”

Swinson said coverage of the duchess’s weight showed just how extreme society’s obsession with female physical perfection had become, and criticised OK! magazine for featuring an “exclusive duchess diet and shape-up plan” and running an interview with her fitness trainer, who claimed “her stomach will shrink straight back” after the birth.

“Publications like OK! magazine need to get some perspective,” she said. “Fitting back into pre-pregnancy jeans is not the priority after childbirth.”

Swinson, who chaired the all-party parliamentary group on body image and was a co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence, is working with the department of health on measures to help new mothers deal with such pressure.

“The government’s body confidence campaign has put together a steering group of midwives, health visitors and other experts to look at how to raise awareness of the issue among health professionals,” she said.

Health visitors would be trained to look out for depression caused by baby weight anxiety and to reassure new mothers that losing weight did not need to be a priority.