On a side note, someone mentioned the Queen and as luck would have it, Her Majesty visited our small town in Scotland today.
We live right next to Melrose Abbey, where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried, and the Queen began her visit there. She walked through the center of the village and collected bouquets at random from children- she has an aide who runs along behind her who then takes the flowers from her so the Queen doesn't have to carry them. She and the Duke of Edinburgh exchanged pleasantries with the throngs lining the street.
I was only an arm's length away from both the Queen and the Duke at one point as they passed and it was interesting for me, as an American, to see the way the people reacted to her. It was forty years since her last visit here and you could really feel the excitement as people turned out to experience a "once in a lifetime" event, as many of them termed it. What I found especially interesting about the whole thing was the amount of distance everybody (including her own entourage) kept from her when she was walking in the open- she approached the people at the barriers when she wanted but nobody approached her unless she gestured for them to do so.
The Queen herself looks exactly like she always does on the telly and she wore a light green dress with matching hat. Prince Phillip looked somewhat older and I hate to say- crustier- than the television lets on. He was still quite chatty with the crowd though and made several people laugh at something he said (although I didn't catch what it was).
She went on to have lunch in the town and then presided over a 7 per side Rugby match and presented the trophy to the winning team Captain. A few more various displays from local organizations and then she and the Duke got back into the Rolls and left, followed by the entourage of nabobs who showed up and all the assembled television crews.
I know all that was totally off the topic of this thread- sorry...
No worries, here I'll try and move back on topic, so here is a story about Toronto and the Queen :)
Ex-councillor raises a ruckus over royal rules
By BRETT CLARKSON, TORONTO SUN
Did you know that Canada's official head of state -- the British monarch -- is barred from being Roman Catholic?
Tony O'Donohue knows it -- and wants the "outdated" rule changed to reflect 21st-century Canada, where it's estimated that upwards of 40% of the population is Catholic. So O'Donohue, a former Toronto councillor, mounted a court challenge against the Crown in an attempt to sever Canada's ties to a 301-year old British statute.
"The Act of Settlement has no place in Canadian life," O'Donohue said.
Specifically, the 1701 British Act of Settlement forbids any non-protestant from ascending to the throne.
O'Donohue ultimately wants the government to both declare the act unconstitutional and lobby the UK for its reform.
"Catholics are singled out in this -- it singles out non-Protestants," O'Donohue said. "I'm quite embarrassed we have such a piece of debris in our constitution."
OUTLINES STRICT RULES
Because of the strict rules it outlines for the monarchy, the act has also raised controversy in Britain. The Guardian newspaper campaigned to have the act reformed, pointing out that it could be construed to discriminate against Muslims, Jews, or any other non-Protestant faith. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament unanimously backed a motion to abolish the act.
The act, explained O'Donohue's lawyer James Morton, is implied in the Canadian Constitution because the feds look to it for its laying out of terms for the monarchy.
An Ontario Superior Court will begin hearing O'Donohue's arguments today before deciding whether to proceed with a full hearing into the matter.
The Canadian government is contending that a hearing should not proceed, Morton said.
The case "could change Canadian history" because of its minute potential to have the Crown declared unconstitutional, said Tom Freda of the group Citizens for a Canadian Republic, who are supporting O'Donohue's case.
Freda contends that the three-century-old act contravenes Canadian law. Section 15(1) of The Charter of Rights and Freedoms expressly forbids discrimination on the basis of "race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability".
"Why should our head of state be exempt from our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?" Freda asked.