The Queen has been the head of state for sixty years. Most people in the UK have known no other. How the UK manages its constitution without a constitution has always been a fascination for me: try explaining this all, to, say US students and you will sound discover how odd we are. Alex Salmond in his venture towards independence from the rest of the UK has said that Scotland will retain the Queen as head of state. With more and more EU integration, what will be the role of a monarch in the future? An American friend, long resident in the UK, was telling me of a recent conversation back home when her friends were proposing missing a generation and having William as king. They all assumed we would vote on the next monarch, unaware of how things are done over here. The recent focus on Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor, ably assisted by Madonna's film, demonstates that the hands of politicians can alter what should be an automatic accession. Go back further in history and you will find plenty of examples of many candidates coming forward for the job. Given the DNA inheritance from her mother, this might all be academic for many years. Imagine, though, some constitutional questions when the day arises - with a Downing Street petition of suitable size calling for William to be king, prompting a debate in parliament, where the constitution prevents discussion on the Royal family. And by then, Scotland's position could be quite different. Will we all have an EU head of state instead? This might keep all the constitutional commentators quite busy.
