The Sovereign

The Queen of England–who is also Queen of Canada and Canada’s Head of State–is dead. Canada is now overseen by King Charles III, whether Canadians like it or not.

Some do not like it at all, especially in Québec where the English are, uh, not much appreciated.

Elizabeth II loomed large in the Canadian consciousness. Lots of stuff is named after her. She’s on their money. She has an official federal representative. To become a citizen, you had to swear loyalty to her (as did politicians, Parliamentarians, and policemen). Now new Canadians (and the others) swear their loyalty to King Charles III as part of being Canadian.

Lots will happen now that she’s gone. Canada’s coins will be reminted with King Charlie’s image, though some have expressed ambivalence about this due to his age. It seems QEII may remain on the C$20 bill, but nothing has been officially announced yet.

Also, according to Canadian procedural law, Parliament has to convene to affirm sympathy and loyalty to the new monarch when the old one dies. The House of Commons is currently not in session so this is a little inconvenient, but there seems to be a workaround that would allow Trudeau to avoid recalling everyone, allowing Parliament to offer condolences and loyalties later. Whew.

It’s currently unclear whether Canadians will observe an official day of mourning, in a possible deviation from tradition.

Seems like there’s a lot of governmental “meh” around the death of this monarch. Does it signal the desire of some Canadians to distance themselves from the English monarchy and its colonialism?

The fact is, a lot of people here don’t like being under sovereign rule. Even though Canada patriated its Constitution in 1982 and Britain has not really exercised its remaining powers in Canada, some royal rights still remain on the books, as well as the official status of Canada as a monarchy.

When it comes to being a monarchy, most Canadians these days would Just. Rather. Not.

It seems a large percentage of Canadian citizens are ready for a final separation between Canada and The Crown. It would take some doing and it’s not a political priority at the moment, but it’s more likely to become an issue now that QEII is gone.

TBH, I’m ambivalent about all the highly-managed coverage of QEII’s death and historic legacy. I’m not a monarchist. My father’s ancestors chartered a little boat across the Atlantic in 1620 to get the eff away from these people. I am not enraptured by the royals and mostly only think about them in terms of the damage they do.

I will admit to enjoying the artistic artifacts and rituals of royal occasions, but I resent their public expense and bloody history.

I also don’t believe the self-engendered myths around royalty: that they are divinely ordained to rule, that they are entitled to colonize and should they be granted special privileges to do so, nor that they should be supported with tax dollars because they provide sublime public inspiration through their exemplary behavior and superior values.

Still, Queen Liz was undeniably an icon, a piece of living history, and occasionally she tried to do the right thing. She had very smart PR people who worked hard to keep her relevant in the internet age, making sure that England and the Commonwealth’s view of their monarch remained friendly and fond.

We’ll see what PR strategies are employed as King Charles III ascends the throne. It may be hard work. He has never been as popular as his mother.

Perhaps this is morbid of me, but one thing I don’t see mentioned in the news coverage is an official cause of death. Recent photos show her very thin, with telltale purple bruises on the back of her hand (indicating recent IVs). She had been doing very little the past few months due to “mobility problems” but still managed to officialize and take photos with her new Prime Minister Liz Truss mere days before her death. Gotta give that much to her: she was tough, Lilibet was.

Part of me wonders if she took some non-recoverable damage when she had COVID back in February, but there were reports of medical examinations last October that seemed worrisome, so who knows? Due to the royal household’s policy of secrecy and its exemption from England’s Freedom of Information Act 2000, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know the details.

No matter now. She had a long run and pretty much died with her boots on, and I can respect that even as I question everything else about her narrative.

So RIP Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada et al. Too bad Death didn’t come for this asshat self-declared Queen of Canada instead, who rallies white extremists and “sovereign citizens” into violent frenzies.