Reply #45: I am Canadian

[Maple]

and the Queen is our head of state as well. Canada has always been a monarchy. French at first, and then English.

On the whole, Brits and Canadians support and like the monarchy. It has given us a stable way of life for centuries by providing a symbol of the state above the shenanigans of elected politicians.

As in...Bush may represent the US, but Blair does not represent the UK. He's just temporary. We try not to let politicians get above themselves, and come to think they own the place. :D

That is why the image and the role are important public tools.

There are certainly anti-monarchists in the UK, as there are in Canada, but so far they are a small minority.

More incidents like this and that may change however.

I'm not keen on monarchies myself, but as long as we have one, and they get to live as well as they do, with all the benefits involved, they should damn well behave themselves.