Now that makes more sense. What gets up my nose is the idea of some head of state whose been honed in a focus group, or earned Buggins Turn by being a good boy in the party, or buying his way in with advertising, in the American fashion.

Dispensing with having a head of state at all seems much preferable. Except that if you still had a head of government, in practice he or she would take on the role.

For purely ceremonial purposes it'd be possible to have a ritual head of state, like the the Straw Bear of Whittlesea. Once again, the folk world shows the way. I can quite imagine the Bear at a State opening of Parliament...All right for a couple of years people would think it was a bit odd, but it wouldn't take long and it'd be a much loved tradition, and no sillier than the other ones. (And "sillier" is not meant as an adverse criticism. The silly bits are the best bits.)