Prince William and Kate Middleton at St James's Palace this week after announcing their engagement. |
Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton should be Britain's next king and queen, not the heir to the throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, two polls showed on Saturday. An ICM poll, published in Britain's News of the World newspaper, showed that 64 percent of people wanted William and his future bride as next in line to the throne, while a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times found the majority of Britons thought William would make a better king than his father Charles. Charles, 62, is currently next in line to the throne, now occupied by his mother Queen Elizabeth, 84. The British public has no say in who should be their next king or queen, a largely symbolic role in a country run as a parliamentary democracy. The ICM survey also found that fewer than one in five people wanted the crown to pass to Charles and Camilla. The YouGov poll showed that 44 percent of people thought Charles should make way for his son to become the next king, against 37 percent who thought he should not. William and Middleton, both aged 28, announced their engagement this week, the photogenic couple drawing extensive media coverage. Charles is seen by some as too old to inject vitality in the monarchy should he eventually succeed his mother. Charles's wife Camilla is nowhere near as popular as his first wife, Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997 after they had divorced. The surveys come a day after Charles, in a television interview, said Camilla could be queen if he is crowned king. Charles married Camilla, his long-time lover, five years ago and at the time of the marriage, it was officially decided that she would have the title Princess Consort if Charles becomes king. A CNN/ComRes poll this week found that more than three-quarters of those surveyed believed William and Middleton's wedding would be good for the monarchy. While many Britons welcome William's wedding, set for spring or summer next year, some have expressed concern that a lavish event would be inappropriate for a country reeling from harsh austerity measures to tackle a record budget deficit. (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
周六發(fā)布的兩項(xiàng)民意調(diào)查顯示,民眾認(rèn)為英國(guó)下一任國(guó)王和皇后應(yīng)該是威廉王子和他的未婚妻凱特?米德爾頓,而不是王位的法定繼承人查爾斯王子和他的妻子康沃爾公爵夫人卡米拉。 在英國(guó)《世界新聞報(bào)》上發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)由民調(diào)機(jī)構(gòu)ICM進(jìn)行的調(diào)查顯示,64%的英國(guó)人想讓威廉和他的未婚妻成為王位第一繼承人。而《星期日泰晤士報(bào)》上YouGov調(diào)查機(jī)構(gòu)的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),大多數(shù)英國(guó)人認(rèn)為威廉能成為比他父親查爾斯更好的國(guó)王。 62歲的查爾斯目前是王位第一繼承人,現(xiàn)在的王位屬于由他的母親——84歲的伊麗莎白女王。英國(guó)公眾對(duì)于誰將成為下一任國(guó)王或皇后并沒有發(fā)言權(quán)。在英國(guó)這一議會(huì)民主制國(guó)家,國(guó)王和皇后基本上是象征性的角色。 ICM的調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn),不到五分之一的英國(guó)人想讓查爾斯和卡米拉繼承王位。YouGov的民意調(diào)查顯示,44%的人認(rèn)為查爾斯應(yīng)該讓位給他的兒子,讓威廉成為下一任國(guó)王,而37%的人認(rèn)為他不應(yīng)該這么做。 現(xiàn)年均為28歲的威廉和米德爾頓在本周公布了他們訂婚的消息。這對(duì)上鏡的情侶很快就吸引了眾多媒體的報(bào)道。 一些英國(guó)人認(rèn)為,如果查爾斯最終從母親那里繼承了王位,他的年紀(jì)會(huì)太大,無法為君主政體注入活力。查爾斯的妻子卡米拉則遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不及他的第一任妻子戴安娜王妃受歡迎。在查爾斯和戴安娜離婚后,1997年戴安娜在一場(chǎng)車禍中去世。 調(diào)查發(fā)布前一日,查爾斯在一個(gè)電視訪談中說,如果他加冕成為國(guó)王,卡米拉可能會(huì)成為皇后。查爾斯在五年以前和他相愛多年的戀人卡米拉結(jié)婚。當(dāng)時(shí),官方已決定如果查爾斯成為國(guó)王,卡米拉將獲得王妃稱號(hào)。 美國(guó)有線電視新聞網(wǎng)和民調(diào)機(jī)構(gòu)ComRes在本周聯(lián)手進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),超過四分之三的被調(diào)查者認(rèn)為威廉和米德爾頓的婚禮將對(duì)這個(gè)君主制國(guó)家有好處。 盡管許多英國(guó)人都對(duì)威廉明年春天或夏天舉行的婚禮表示歡迎,也有些人擔(dān)心這樣耗資巨大的盛事對(duì)于一個(gè)即將采取嚴(yán)厲措施應(yīng)對(duì)巨額財(cái)政赤字的國(guó)家來說不合適。 相關(guān)閱讀 威廉王子成為飛行員 米德爾頓現(xiàn)身畢業(yè)典禮 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯:馮明惠) |
Vocabulary: photogenic: looking attractive in photographs(上鏡的;上相的) lavish: large in amount, or impressive, and usually costing a lot of money(大量的;給人印象深刻的;耗資巨大的) reel: 受到震撼 |