"We think of Scotland and Ireland, Canada and Australia, New Zealand as being crushed under the iron high heels of Queen Lizzie."

Whether Scotland remains in the Union or not and whether it retains the monarchy or not are actually two seperate issues. The shared monarchy comes about from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones on the death of Elizabeth I of England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain came about in 1707 a century later when both the Scottish and English (Wales was legally regarded as part of England at that time)kingdoms were wound up and a new united kingdom called Great Britain was formed. The current Scottish SNP govt wish to dissolve the 1707 Union of the Parliaments but they are not actually a Republican party. If they secured a YES vote in the referendum the Queen would remain as Head of State in Scotland. Some people in North America (and I apologise to most who probably are sensible enough) have some funny ideas as to the internal politics in GB. There is a debate over which is the best way for Scotland to proceed. As part of the UK within the EU or as an independent and seperate state within the EU - but nobody is suppressing us and we don't need to be freed!