I was thinking of something along the lines of Tolkein's Minas Tirith (before the king came back) or indeed Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork, where there is a head of government, of sorts, who gets on with running the place, but the head of State, the centre of ritual and the giver of continuity, is an EMPTY CHAIR. Damn sight cheaper to run. And the tourists would flock in to see it.

There should be a song in this, anyone? Harvey, you started this, you finish it!