The monarchists of Canada are on the march. Delirious over the marriage of William and Kate, they are now ecstatic over the birth of their son. The survival of the British monarchy in Canada is assured.
It has given them an air of triumph. “You could almost feel sorry for the beleaguered ranks of Canadian republications,” writes journalist John Fraser, Canada’s nicest monarchist. After all, weren’t the republicans on a winning streak a decade or so ago? Wasn’t Queen Elizabeth aging? Wasn’t her family dysfunctional? Wasn’t Ottawa shunning royal symbols? We were ready to jettison the institution.
Alas, no longer. Now the Queen isn’t getting old. Having celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, she is set to become the country’s longest serving monarch. After that, she has agreed to reign forever.
The Prince of Wales, whom Fraser calls “the most maligned public figure of our time,” is now the oracle in a double-breasted suit. Why, gushes Fraser, he’s been right all along on ecological degradation, youth alienation and mindless urban expansion! Sure, he may have stepped out on Diana but, hell, that’s old news. And now, his wife and former mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, is no longer frumpy and catty.
Today, everything is brilliant. The stars are aligned from Buckingham Palace to Balmoral Castle. Prince Harry may be a hellion and Sarah Ferguson a naïf, but Will and Kate are the model family — natural, unassuming and oh so hip, a royal couple for the 21st century. And now, the baby! For republicans, it’s over — game, set, match.
What is curious about the celebration of the monarchy by Fraser and others, however, is that it is largely founded in the longevity and sense of duty of the Queen, the wisdom of Prince Charles, and the appeal of William, Kate and their irresistible baby.
The institution itself is an afterthought. The breathless tributes we hear today in Canada aren’t about the monarchy; they are about celebrity in the Age of Celebrity.
So, when the monarchists claim rising support for the monarchy in Canada, this is nothing of the sort. It is a passing fascination with the lives of the royals, the same obsession we have for pop singers, actors, athletes and plutocrats.
In fact, poll after poll in recent years shows support isn’t rising substantially for the monarchy. Despite the Jubilee, the royal visits, the emergence of William and Kate and the efforts of our own government of monarchists, fewer than half of Canadians support the monarchy.
We have been a constitutional monarchy for 146 years and we are told the monarchy is fundamental to our identity. Yet it cannot win the support of a majority of Canadians. Yet the monarchists keep insisting, with every royal bone in their genuflecting, prostrate bodies, that the Queen of Canada matters.
She doesn’t. Nor do William and Kate. The institution is remote from our lives, and the current sophomoric and sycophantic obsession with royalty is gaining no traction among Canadians. The Queen is amiable, kind, dutiful — and absolutely irrelevant to a country in which she has spent a minuscule part of her reign.
Indeed, in parts of the country like Quebec, the monarchy is overwhelmingly disliked. In others, it is unknown.
Detaching ourselves from Britain has been a motif of our history. It is why we established a foreign ministry in 1909, insisted on a Canadian Corps in the Great War, won the right to run our foreign policy in 1931, established Canadian citizenship in 1947, made the Supreme Court of Canada supreme in 1949, created our own flag in 1965 and, most notably, patriated the British North America Act in 1982.
Abolishing the monarchy, particularly on the death of Queen Elizabeth, is the next, natural step in our evolution. It is about becoming ourselves, a mature, sovereign people. Will it happen anytime soon? Unlikely. Complacency is Canada. We simply don’t care enough to abolish the monarchy, but apathy doesn’t mean affection.
Andrew Cohen is a professor of journalism and international affairs at Carleton University.
