Victoria Day good time to start King Harry campaign

I trust everyone is having a royally fantastic long weekend.
Monday is our nation's annual birthday celebration for that famous royal matriarch, Queen Victoria. A national holiday since 1901, Victoria Day is also the annual occasion we Canadians celebrate the birthday of whoever is our sovereign leader - currently Queen Elizabeth II.
There was an interesting realization I had recently. The Queen of Canada turned 83 in April. Although still relatively young by modern standards, it's probably about time citizens of the Commonwealth start to accept that this staple of the royal family will not be around forever.
This means, sooner or later, Prince Charles will appear on our money.
Is this a terrifying prospect? Will this result in the end of the monarchy in Canada?
In the opinion of this humble reporter, the Queen made fairly good looking money, largely because she has a fairly noble profile. I'm just not so sure Charles has the same potential in his face. In fact, I just don't know how popular he will be as king.
I have nothing against the Prince of Wales, but the current queen is so likeable and such a fixture in our culture, its impossible to imagine a royal family without her as its head.
Maybe her passing will simply be the time Canadians decide to sever their formal relationship with the monarchy. The current system, after all, does present certain rare but actual problematic scenarios - such as the unelected governor general deciding whether or not to dissolve parliament.
That said, there are arguably certain perks to maintaining a formal relationship with the royal family. I'm certain many have suggested it provides cultural value, distinguishing us from Americans and giving us a direct link to a political history far older than is the nation of Canada.
In contrast, I'm certain there are those Canadians who see maintaining a Royal Family in this country as antiquated and decadent and this cultural relic should simply be placed in the history books and out of legislation.
Another potential issue Canadians might have with the Royal Family is the simple fact that, although legally Canadian royalty in all matters pertaining to Canada, this is a British family and it perhaps seems like we're undermining Canadian sovereignty when our Canadian sovereign lives in England.
But then there's possibly an argument that our relationship with Great Britain and other Commonwealth countries is a means of nations connecting with each other, building alliances and friendships on the state level.
However, even if we dropped the Queen (or future king) as our head of state, we could still maintain membership in this association. Several countries, after all, are members of the Commonwealth and, although they recognize the Queen as the head of that Commonwealth, they do not accept her as their sovereign.
On the other hand, actually having the monarch as a figurehead ruler arguably acts as a stabilizing force (or symbol of stability) - whatever political parties come and go, our head of state is beyond political whims.
I'm not sure what the answer is. Personally, I'd like to think there's still room in our modern free society for a little antiquated decadence. It's sort of quaint and appealing to think that formidable old woman on our money still commands a little recognition from a country that spawned from the British Empire.
Perhaps the Windsors should just skip Charles and William when the Queen passes, handing the throne over to cool King Harry. I'm sure that would convince a few more Canadians to maintain the monarchy, at least for a while.
He is, after all, royally bad ass.

Carter Haydu can be reached at 691-1265.