Australians have delivered a brutal verdict on former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, with big majorities disliking Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and supporting King Charles’ decision to strip his brother of his titles and evict him from his royal mansion.

In a further blow to the former prince, who was once second in line to be king and who is still eighth in the line of succession – which means he is still eligible to be Australia’s head of state – 60 per cent of Australians want him removed from the line of succession.

This proposal to remove Andrew because of his long friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is currently being debated in the UK and would require legal changes in the UK and in Commonwealth countries, including Australia.

Support for Australia becoming a republic has also surged to 43 per cent amid renewed attention on Andrew and the royal family. This is the highest support recorded in the Resolve Political Monitor poll conducted for this masthead.

Another 29 per cent of people were undecided, while 28 per cent opposed a republic, the second-lowest figure recorded in the poll and down from a high of 37 per cent in September 2022, following Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Between September 2025, before the controversy over Andrew’s conduct and character reignited, and November 2025, soon after he was stripped of his titles and honours, support for a republic rose five percentage points.

Conversely, King Charles’ positive performance rating and likeability ratings also grew dramatically in the same period between September and November this year as the controversy played out.

In October, Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s posthumous memoir was published, alleging Andrew abused her by having sex with her three times when she was 17, and that she was trafficked by Epstein. Also last month, an email emerged showing Andrew had told Epstein in 2011 “we are in this together”, after he previously claimed he had cut off connection with Epstein.

The former Duke of York, who has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, is now known Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after King Charles demoted his brother and evicted him from his residence, the Royal Lodge.

Although respondents were not directly asked about the King’s handling of the Andrew controversy, in September 2025, Charles recorded a positive rating of 29 per cent, while 21 per cent of people gave him a negative rating for a net likeability rating of plus 8 percentage points. A large 41 per cent of people gave him a neutral rating, and 8 per cent of respondents were unfamiliar with the King.

Two months later, King Charles recorded a positive rating of 36 per cent, 20 per cent negative, 39 per cent neutral, and 8 per cent unfamiliar – an eight percentage point improvement to plus 16 per cent.

Charles was rated as performing well in November by 39 per cent of respondents, up eight percentage points since September, while just 14 per cent of Australians rated him as performing badly, an improvement from 19 per cent two months earlier. Overall, Charles’ net performance rating improved from plus 13 per cent to plus 25 per cent in two months.

A performance rating for the disgraced former prince was not asked of respondents, but the same question about likeability was asked for Andrew and the results were dire.

Just 13 per cent of Australians rated Andrew as likeable in November 2025, 20 per cent had a neutral view of the former prince, 59 per cent of people had a negative view of him and 8 per cent of people said they were unfamiliar with him – a net likeability score of minus 46 percentage points.

That likeability rating means Andrew is just 8 percentage points away from Vladimir Putin, with the Russian dictator scoring minus 54 percentage points.

Men and women were united in their distaste for the playboy ex-prince, while Andrew was rated most unliked for people aged over 55 (minus 55 percentage points), then minus 48 percentage points for people aged 35-54 year, while 18-34 year olds delivered a negative 25 percentage point score.

Resolve director Jim Reed said the findings suggested Australians approved of Charles’ handling of the scandal and that “many want him to go further still”.

“Andrew may not have been found guilty in court, but it is enough to have him banished from one, permanently,” Reed said.

“People often reward leaders for doing the right thing, and that’s the case here with Charles’ ratings the best we have seen since his coronation. But at the same time, they cannot forget the circumstances that called for his intervention, which is why we see support for a republic rise at the same time.”

“It’s like we’re rewarding a child for cleaning up a plate they’ve broken, but then making sure they don’t have access to the crockery cupboard any more.”

The rise to 43 per cent voter support for an Australian republic, a record high in the Resolve poll, raises questions about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to ditch the position of assistant minister for the republic in a July 2024 reshuffle. After the failure of the Voice referendum, Albanese has all but ruled out further constitutional changes.

The rating is 7 percentage points higher than the equal-lowest figure recorded, which was 36 per cent in January 2022 and then September 2022, the month that the Queen died.

Opposition to a republic was at 25 per cent in September and 28 per cent in November 2025, down from a high of 37 per cent in September 2022.

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