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Queen Elizabeth is, from the looks of it, a very nice old lady. She looks good in a hat, knows better than anyone how to make small talk, and doesn’t even mind the occasional hug. She was also a fan of corgis long before they became an internet obsession.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good 60 years on the throne for her.

No matter how much people seem to like the Queen, however, we should all be prepared to start thinking about alternatives to the monarchy. It’s nothing personal against the Windsor family (although Charles on the $20 bill does sound depressing) but it’s about time we move on. It’s simply becoming embarrassing that Canada still pays fealty to the British crown when less than half of the country has any British heritage. The absurdity is only going to become more apparent as Canada’s ethnic makeup continues to diversify.

Canada could (and should) transition to a republic once the Queen abdicates the throne or dies. It’s not unheard of; both India and Ireland have largely ceremonial presidents now but retain the Westminster system of government. That seemed to be the way things were going in Canada, and we would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for the meddling Conservatives. The government of Stephen Harper has recently tried to re-inject the monarchy into Canadian consciousness by emphasizing the Governor General’s role as the Queen’s represantative (and not de facto president) and by appending “Royal” to the names of the navy and air force, but it seems rather forced even for them. After all, in military matters the country works much more closely with the U.S. than it does with the U.K. and many Canadians don’t view the Royal Family as anything other than celebrities who occasionally have nice weddings. They’re basically Kardashians who live in London.

Still, in many ways the government is doing everyone a favour. The Crown plays a central role in Canadian government, and the more people are aware of it the better. But hopefully that awareness will start to make more people uncomfortable with the fact that someone in Britain who happened to be born into the right palace is our head of state. Is this any way for a modern democracy to function?

Let’s just remind ourselves of the Oath of Citizenship new Canadians take:

“I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.”

Notice anything weird? Like, people swearing allegiance to the Queen and her family before they pledge to uphold the laws of the country and fulfill their duties as citizens? The U.S. citizenship oath, by comparison, starts by renouncing allegiance to “any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty” and a pledge to support the country’s constitution.

Support for the monarchy is at a bit of a high right now both in the U.K. and in Canada. The Queen’s diamond jubilee and last year’s Royal Wedding have buoyed support for the Royals to levels not seen in decades. That’s no accident. The Queen’s brain trust inside Buckingham Palace is terrified of what will happen to the monarchy once she is off the throne, and the PR push for Kate and William’s wedding was meant to serve up the grandson as a more likeable alternative to Charles. In Britain, about half of people think the crown should pass to William and skip Charles.

The popularity of William (and why is he so great again?) misses the larger point about the absurdity of monarchy. Ultimately it doesn’t matter who’s on the throne. The idea of a hereditary head of state is still rotten, as evidenced by the Queen’s recent photo op with the 20 crowned heads of state. Whoever thought of setting up the event must have been a secret republican since there’s nothing like having the Queen next to the rulers of Bahrain, Swaziland and Saudi Arabia to illustrate how bizarre the whole idea is. It won’t get any less bizarre if a King William were to replace the old lady.

This probably isn’t top of mind for a lot of Canadians, but if we all learned to love the maple leaf over the union jack on the flag, we can all learn to appreciate a Canadian head of state, too.

An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Ireland was still in the Commonwealth. This has been amended.

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