Nowhere in your lengthy spread on the royals do you ever go beyond gossip and opinionating to the constitutional meaning of the monarchy , a meaning which many Canadians do no understand.

A comparison of our constitutional monarchy with the republic of the Americans would show that having a non-elected figure who embodies our collective identity, and in whose name our government functions, is superior to the American model, in which an elected official is simultaneously savaged constantly in the media and revered solemnly as “the President”.

At the time of the Watergate scandal, pundits on American television fretted at length over how much damage it was doing to “the Presidency”. The Presidency, of course, does not exist. In our system, the Prime Minister is not a demi-god ( and also a demi-devil), but is a servant of the Crown, which is above and beyond politics.

Queen Elizabeth the Second is a hard -working lady doing a difficult tiresome job and we needn’t fawn over her ( and speculate darkly about her child and grandchildren) in order to give her her the respect she deserves as the monarch and as an essential part of our constitution.