Well, Cllr, the Irish among others wer happy to switch their sworn allegiance from their King to a president, and look at them now - the boom economy of Europe.

In America there is easy access to a comprehensive study: The Royals, by Kitty Kelley (1998?). It is impressively researched, and shows a much greater understanding of constitutional history etc than I would have expected.

As far as I know, it is still not published in the UK, which is a disgrace. Still, it's worth getting hold of, especially for anyone who loves to "love" our dear Queen Mum.

Disappearing a mentally ill relative into an institution, under a false name (and having that relative certified dead in her true name) might be just an indiscretion. And taking the fireplaces with her when she surrendered Buckingham Palace to our present queen (this in postwar, ration-book Britain) merely suggests a quaint detachment from the real world. But to invent a bizarre, tinpot title for herself, HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother - the only title in the world to include "queen" twice - when she is not a queen at all... That betrays a truly Machiavellian genius.

And just look at the trouble these people cause. When Queen Victoria's grandchildren fell out, it wasn't a spat in the nursery, it was World War 1 (the grandchildren being the King, the Czar and the Kaiser). Too right, Linda Kelly - off with their heads!