Image: Mel Rothenburger photo
ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Get rid of the monarchy? We may as well get rid of hockey

Sep 10, 2022 | 6:43 AM

‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.’ — Princess Elizabeth, April 21, 1947.

THE WORLD STOPPED on Thursday.

The Queen died. There was nothing else. I never met her, never even saw her except in pictures. Judging by the wall to wall news coverage, I’m the only one.

Everyone from politicians to TV personalities to little girls with flowers has been telling us about the time they “met the Queen.”

Local media everywhere, including the Tournament Capital, have been desperately searching for folks who had brushes with Royalty. The closest I came was meeting a couple of Governors-General (including the current one).

But I knew Elizabeth II, sort of, from the day of her coronation. I was eight years old. In those days, the monarchy was important. Nobody questioned its relevance. Everybody was a monarchist. As coronation day approached, our elementary school class spent a lot of time in preparation. I think the teacher was Miss Rigler.

Each pupil created a scrap book. We clipped photos of the Queen and her family members, and of the Crown Jewels and the Royal Sceptre and the Gold State Coach carriage. When I think about it, I get a sense of the excitement of that time all over again. I wish I still had that scrapbook but it probably went out with the trash a few years later. I remember a cookie tin with an image of the new Queen, too.

Maybe that early experience growing up with the Queen is why I remain a monarchist at heart. All the old anti-monarchy arguments are being dragged out by detractors — the monarchy is irrelevant, it costs too much money, it’s a colonialist relic, it has no place in Canada, yadda yadda.

Yet others are jealous of our monarchy. Even the U.S. regrets having dumped George III (who, by the way, commissioned the golden carriage) in their revolutionary war. Alexander Hamilton, one of the great architects of independence, wanted a constitutional monarchy.

Today, the American media are mourning the death of our Queen as much as we are, maybe more. They miss the monarchy, often referring to Hollywood celebrities as their royalty. It was the best they could do until Meghan Markle came along. They called her the “American Princess,” even though she wasn’t a princess and never will be. Now they call her the “American Duchess.”

Yet there are so many Canadian sourpusses around who want to get rid of the monarchy. They may as well demand we get rid of hockey. Just as swiping a rubber puck around the ice is our national sport, the monarchy is our national entertainment. Our national past-time, as I once called them.

It’s part of who we are. The Queen was its coach and CEO, and we loved her. She and her family are a connection to our very roots. Canada would be a much more boring place without the Royals. Who would we put on our coins and $20 bills, Wayne Gretzky? Justin Trudeau? The monarchy means stability. It unites us.

It keeps us honest. And by the way, comparisons between constitutional monarchies and republics clearly show that constitutional monarchies are much cheaper to run. Yes, it’s true. It would be no easy job for Canada to ditch the Royals, either.

It would need agreement from the House of Commons, Senate and all 10 provinces. And even if they did, why would we want to be the United States of Canada, with endless deadlocks between the House and what would likely be an elected Senate, and Trump-like presidents, stumbling from one constitutional crisis to the next?

No, we’re fine where we are. We were fine with Queen Elizabeth II for 70 years. And we’ll be fine with King Charles III, who I predict will surprise everyone with how good he is, despite all the messes he created earlier in life.

When my own dear mother died, her last words to me from her hospital bed were, “Life goes on.” It does, though differently. One generation succeeds the last.

The Queen has left us but the monarchy lives on. So for now, can we please just spend the next week or so grieving, and cherishing the reign of our departed Queen, and remembering the time we met her?

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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