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Prince & Princess of Wales

Prince William beats Beckham and Cameron in ‘ideal role model’ poll

He is already a role model to his two children, George and Charlotte. But, according to a recent Huffington Post poll, Prince William is also an inspiration for a large number of British men.

The poll formed part of the site’s  ‘Building Modern Men’ series, which looks at today’s perception of masculinity.  In total, 1,500 men were polled between October 30 and November 2.

Despite being second in line to the throne, Prince William topped the list, with 25% voting for him. The young father was followed by David Beckham with 14% of the vote and US President Barack Obama with 9%.

It was a bleak outlook for British politicians, at the other end of the spectrum however. Newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn received 5% backing from men, narrowly beating Prime Minister David Cameron who placed last with only 1% of the vote. Chef Jamie Oliver, comedian Russell Brand and the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg also made the cut alongside Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

William’s popularity came alongside key words such as ‘committed’, ‘trustworthy’ whilst 47% also said they saw their role models as ‘caring’ and 46% called them ‘intelligent’.

The poll also revealed a surprisingly shift in attitudes towards masculinity. Almost four-fifths of participants – 78% – said they didn’t mind their partner being the main breadwinner in their home and 44% of respondents said they were comfortable household chores such as food shopping, followed by doing housework (32%) and cooking (31%).

The Huffington Post’s Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Hull, said:“This month at HuffPost UK, we have been focusing on what it means to be a modern man and how men are redefining masculinity in today’s society.

“It is refreshing to see that men no longer feel that they need to be the main breadwinner in a household and traits such as commitment, trust and passion, are coming to the fore.”

Only a quarter said that they felt comfortable doing the school run (23%), whilst organising a family event and changing nappies were activities that men felt least comfortable doing, ranking at 19% and 18% respectively.

The poll is the second most-recent poll which has seen The Duke of Cambridge place first. In October, he and wife Kate were named as the world’s most influential couple, beating the likes of the Obamas and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

In that poll, David and Victoria Beckham came in at second place whilst William’s grandparents, The Queen and Prince Philip, ranked third.