WH Auden was indeed born in Yorkshire, but was voted out in 1967 on the grounds that he had American citizenship. When four years later it was time to choose the court poet again, the author of the book “Guinness World Records”, Ross McWhirter, claimed that the favorite tipped Auden had published “a pornographic poem” in an underground magazine.
But views were also drawn from an Oxford poetry expert who described Robert Graves as admittedly the best poet imaginable but still unsuitable because of his lifestyle. Another objection to Graves was that he was a strong anti-establishment voice.
However, Ted Hughes was elected Poet Laureate in 1984 when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. Nowadays, the assignment is time-limited to ten years and is held by Simon Armitage. He succeeded Carol Ann Duffy who in 2009 became the first and so far only female Poet Laureate in 2009.