These are the most influential members of the royal family

With The Crown back on Netflix, currently riding high in the charts the royals are a hot topic - but new research has shown which royals are actually the most influential.

When the Queen passed away in September, the world went into mourning for a royal who reigned for 70 years - and while the Queen, who was 96 when she died, never personally used social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram, that doesn't mean to say she's not influential in those spaces.

The research looked at the popularity of ten royals via Google searches, TikTok views, and Instagram hashtags and ranked the most influential royals from this data.

Any guesses?

Queen Elizabeth II, who had celebrated her Platinum Jubilee this summer, took the top spot with 4.7 million Google searches a month, she features in 1.6 million Instagram hashtags, and has had 18.7 billion views on TikTok under her hashtag - making her the most mentioned and searched-for royal ever.

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The research by Financial World ranked the top most influential royals, with the new Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, coming in second place, boasting 1.4 million Instagram hashtags, 2.9 million Google searches per month and 6.3 billion views on TikTok with videos that contain her.

Meghan Markle, who stepped away from royal life in 2020, is the second most Googled royal of all (with 4.5 million searches per month around the world) but overall, by social media views, she came in third place.

Prince Harry ranked in fourth place. The Duke of Sussex rakes in 1.4 million Google searches a month, and features in 1.1 million Instagram hashtags. The hashtag #PrinceHarry has also been viewed 7.3 billion times on TikTok.

Princess Diana, who passed away more than 25 years ago, is still a much-loved royal across the generations, and while she is deemed the 5th most influential royal there are a staggering 9.8 billion searches for her on TikTok every month.

Wondering where our new monarch ranks? King Charles III comes in 7th on the list, just below his eldest son William (who is in 6th place). Charles's most popular platform is TikTok, with 3.8 billion views.

Do you agree with the research? Which royal do you search for the most?

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Sarah is a freelance journalist - writing about the royals and celebrities for Marie Claire, fitness for Women's Health and Tech Radar and travel for the Evening Standard and Woman & Home. She covers a variety of other subjects too and loves interviewing leaders and innovators in the beauty, travel and wellness worlds for numerous UK and overseas publications. Sarah can normally be found trying out the latest fitness class or on a plane to an exotic destination - and of course, writing about them.