King Charles III just wrapped a four-day U.S. visit. The BBC called it a possible “mojo” comeback. Commentators compared it to George VI’s 1939 state visit. Emily Maitlis said Charles “lifted us all up a bit.” Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten dropped a bucket of cold water on the whole fairy tale.

“Just 32 percent of Americans care. Sixty-three percent… we don’t care. We’ve had enough of the royal news.”

That was Enten on CNN News Central, April 29, right in the middle of Charles’s big American moment. The numbers came from an Ipsos poll. And they were brutal. Let me repeat that for the royal correspondents in the back: nearly two-thirds of Americans do not care about U.K. royal news. Not “they hate it.” Not “they’re ambivalent.” They have had enough.

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The media wants you to believe America is obsessed

The BBC ran a piece titled “Have the royals got their mojo back from US visit?” They quoted a historian calling it “a state visit for the ages.” They highlighted 12 standing ovations in Congress and they made it sound like Charles had just won the Super Bowl.

Except Americans actually watch the Super Bowl. Enten pointed out that Charles’s coronation drew about 10 million U.S. viewers across multiple channels. The Super Bowl? 126 million on one network. That is 12.6 times as many people choosing to watch a football game over a king getting a hat.

CNN also asked about a hypothetical U.S. monarchy. Only 2% of independents, 4% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats said that would be a good thing. Enten noted that 12% of Americans believe the U.S. faked the moon landing. So more people believe in a fake moon landing than want a king.

Then there is the street-level reality

Town & Country sent a reporter to Charles’s 9/11 Memorial visit in New York. The headline: “Unbothered Tourists Take in King Charles’s Visit.” The reporter said that at several points, “it felt like there were more journalists and cops than bystanders.”

Tourists from Australia, Austria, Portland and California were annoyed their memorial visit was disrupted. One man from Melbourne said, “That’s really annoyed me.” A woman from Wales joked that Charles was “following” her. High school students were more interested in seeing the mayor than the King.

Only one person, a 66-year-old woman from Staten Island, came on purpose. She left work early and took the ferry. Everyone else? Bystanders who stumbled into the barricades.

But here is where the double standard becomes impossible to ignore

When Harry and Meghan drew massive, frenzied crowds during their “quasi-royal” tour of Australia, the British press called it desperate, attention-seeking, and inappropriate. They were accused of using royal status for personal gain. The same outlets that now hype Charles’s 12 standing ovations (in a room full of politicians who are paid to applaud) once mocked the Sussexes for having actual public enthusiasm.

CNN’s polling numbers cut through all the pageantry. Americans are not deeply invested in royal news. They never were. The media just keeps pretending because the monarchy is a product that needs selling.

Final thoughts

King Charles can give speeches. He can charm Congress. He can get standing ovations from people who want something from him. But the American public? They have already changed the channel.

Sixty-three percent say they have had enough. The royal media can call it “mojo” if it wants. CNN’s poll called it something else: indifference.

And no amount of velvet-glove diplomacy is going to make Americans care about a king they fought a revolution to get rid of. That is not a special relationship. That is a one-sided obsession. And the numbers do not lie.

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