I agree totally about the PR need, though I’ve always been a fan of the monarchy. I passionately oppose the idea of both political power and military power being vested in the same individual. It is entirely right that our Monarch keeps all the pomp, pageantry, history and glory for herself as well as crucially having our military answer solely to her, as she doesn’t have the power to abuse it. By the same token, it is also right that our elected leader who holds true political power is forbidden from directing armies, giving honours, living in palaces and surrounding themselves with any of the tokens which even hint at authoritarianism. It also does our Prime Ministers no harm to have to attend the Monarch and give account of themselves to a wise old lady every week. It goes a long way towards keeping them honest. Constitutional monarchy leads to a head of state who is well trained, stable, impartial and comparatively cheap who can unite their people when necessary.
I very much like the Irish system too but even then, as lovely as their wee man Higgins is, their presidents have normally come from one side of the political aisle or the other so not as unifying a figure as the Queen. Plus you have to pay to elect them every 7 years. Brits wouldn’t know what they had till it was too late if they voted for a republic. I’d never want a copy of France or America’s system. Too much risk of big headed idiots marching into dictator territory, as Trump proved on 6th January.
Its why Meagain and particularly Hazzard are making me so furious because they’re threatening something vital that I think does a good job. Andrew too for that matter. They all need dumping from the line of succession pronto.