Research commissioned by Advertising Plan B, the communications consultants appointed last week by Republic, the Campaign For An Elected Head Of State, has shown that, despite the recent barrage of sympathetic publicity for the Queen, a majority of people now favour an elected head of state over the monarchy.

In a poll of 1000 people conducted by ICM between May 24-26, and in response to the question, ‘Which one of the following options would you prefer?’ 50% opted for ‘someone who is elected’, 47% for ‘a monarch’ and 3% didn’t know. More significant majorities were found in London, (61% to 31%), the West midlands (54% to 44%) and Scotland (53% to 44%) and especially amongst the 18-24 year old age group (a huge 81% to 19%). Whereas in Wales and the South West and the North West there were majorities for the monarchy, at 54% to 43% and 52% to 44% respectively.

Professor Stephen Haseler, Chairman of Republic, said: "Frankly, even we are surprised by these results. They show that a majority of the British people want to elect their head of state. They also show that there are clear majorities against the idea of monarchy amongst younger people and in London and Scotland."

"This poll also serves to show that this coming weekend's highly organised and somewhat contrived official celebrations will say little about the standing of the monarchy".