Ah, where was I?
Murray, to suggest that anyone who holds antimonarchist sentiments is doing so purely on the basis of class envy is bloody ridiculous!
My objection is based purely on the fact that a head of state should not be appointed as a result of an accident of birth. I have nothing against anyone bequeathing things to their kids, but the idea that Charles will become King George VII merely because of his birth is nonsensical in this day and age.
Even if the man were to be a living saint who developed a cure for cancer, made the trains run on time and provided free jam for the world, he would still have no right to be my head of state unless the state - i.e. we the people - appointed him.
Thus to wake up a citizen rather than a subject would thrill me. It would show that a moribund and hide-bound country had thrown off some of its absurd ruritanian shackles and woken up to the real world.
As for the old canard about the tourist bucks, I haven't noticed an aversion to travelling to France since 1789. More people visit France each year than the UK, and the Froggies aren't so bad at the old pomp and ceremony themselves, as any July 14 parade will show.
Still, until the glad day when I live in a republic, I can look green-eyed across the Irish Sea. Here's to you, Mrs Robinson...