Young Brits Want King Wills, Not Chas

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/12/2002 at 12:00 PM EDT

As far as Prince Charles, 53, is concerned, the son also rises. His son. According to a survey of young Britons conducted by the BBC, Charles's son Prince William, who turns 20 next month, should succeed Queen Elizabeth II, 76, as England's next monarch instead of him. The phone poll -- asked of 1,000 people between June 7 and 9 -- revealed that 35 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds thought William should become king, Reuters reported, while 27 percent favored Prince Charles. Among all respondents, however, 47 percent supported the notion of Charles's stepping into the shoes his mother has occupied for the past 50 years (she recently celebrated her Golden Jubilee, at which Charles referred to her before the crowd as "Your Majesty ... Mummy"), with Prince William receiving a vote of 33 percent. The option of replacing the monarchy with an elected president was favored by 14 percent of those questioned, though 63 percent opposed a suggestion that the monarchy was out of date. Then again, 51 percent of Britons said the royal family was too expensive, with a more startling majority of 62 percent of young people concurring. Meanwhile, Mummy has made no public mention of a plan to abdicate her throne to anybody.