Why pledging allegiance to the new king feels so wrong 

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I really appreciate how non-toxic the comment section of Evan's videos is :) really feels like a safe space to discuss these issues

I don't mind all the monarchists hanging flags from their houses, but I AM very much minding about the actions of the police in arresting peaceful protestors!

Luke's analysis of the "persons of good will" subtle pressure is spot on.

I had some attachment to the queen, for me she was like gravity, she was an omnipresent fact of reality. She was always there. Until she wasn’t. I felt deeply saddened by her passing, it was like a content of reality had suddenly changed. She was THE QUEEN. That being said as someone who didn’t follow the royal family at all I don’t know who this stranger is that I’m asked to pledge myself to. I am married, I have already pledged myself to another and have no intention of pledging myself to anyone else. Ps. I didn’t realise Americans have to say their pledge of allegiance daily, that seems insane to me, then again in my north west English public school we had to say the Lord’s Prayer each morning so I guess we are not that different.

I work at a supermarket, i asked people over the weekend if they were doing anything to celebrate or were going to watch the coronation. Most people just used it as an excuse to have parties, and most people actually spoke about not being that into the monarchy (including a lot of older people)

I think your friend makes a very good point. While he has been propagandized to see QE2 as the symbol of his nation, you have been propagandized to see your flag as the symbol of your nation. While strange and equally nationalistic, an American need not essentially "worship" a person as a symbol for the collective, but a symbol as a symbol for the collective.

As someone who is applying for citizenship my first thought when I saw all the people saying "pfft, I ain't doing that mate" was "At least it's optional for you".

Persons of goodwill? Fortunately I already knew that I'm a grumpy old git, so I didn't pledge allegiance. Evan, nice to see yourself and Luke in a video again.

I have a friend who left the UK aged 15 to go the US as his father got a job over there. His first day in school when the class recited the pledge of allegiance he sat quietly and let them get on with it. His teacher was offended that he refused to take part evven though he was British and every day for a week he was put in detention. My friends parent complained and someone had to word with the teacher explaining he didn't have to do it but after that he was sent out of the classroom every day while the rest of the class recited the pledge of allegiance.

Although the form of the pledge to king Charles "and his heirs" seems to imply unswerving, inviolable loyalty to that individual (and their progeny) there have - of course - been numerous British kings and queens who have either been directly overthrown, or other times nearly overthrown, because it was felt (at the time) that they had themselves betrayed or abandoned their own coronation oaths to rule "according to the laws". I sometimes worry people aren't taught about those moments of British history in general.

Luke's thoughts on the monarchy are so bang on, it's exactly that I feel. I'm not anti or pro monarchy and it's good to hear others articulate this in a way that's not hard one side of the other.

Even though it was only asked, it feels wrong that it was even asked, like hell no. I'm English but do not care about the monarchy, I'm fascinated by their history but thats it.

I read that the pledge was historically said by earls etc. to declare that they accepted the crown passing to that person and wouldn't challenge it. In that case it makes a lot more sense and explains why the bit about heirs is included.

My siblings and I had to go to school in America cos my dad went there on sabbatical when I was very young. Like 4-5 years old I was so I don't remember it much. But basically whenever my dad had sabatticals. He took the whole family even though we had a family home. I think it was to give my siblings and I an experience of the world. Mum told me the story of how my eldest brother laughed when the other students in his class did the pledge of alliegence and he refused to do it because he found it stupid. They called my mum in to complain at her and my mum went off at them and called them stupid because James was British. So why would he swear alliegence to a flag that's to America and that it was a ridiculous reason to put someone in trouble for.

Evan, during your British citizenship ceremony, you could’ve took an affirmation to the country rather than the Oath of legends for the Queen. This is the same in Australia, and is the sole reason most people now become citizens as they do not want to pledge allegiance to the queen/King of another country they take an affirmation to the country of Australia, and you could have done the same for Britain.

I’m from Quebec, Canada. We had the same issue as Australia. Some parlement member didn’t want to pledge allegiance to the queen/king. So the passed a law (or something like that) so that they don’t have to. You can now pledge allegiance to your nation. (Sorry for my English, Quebec is a French province ^^)

I have a lot of respect for the royal family and the hard work they do. I would much rather have a king or queen rather than President Blair, president Johnson or president Starmer....fills me with fear. 😂

I not only didn't pledge but I completely forgot the coronation was even a thing that was happening 🤣🤣

It wasnt the King who invited people to pledge allegiance to the King It was the Arch Bishop who invited everyone to pledge their allegiance. The peers are expected to pledge allegiance but it was opened up to the people of the country to pledge their allegiance if they so wished. Personally I liked how everyone was invited to be a part of it if they wanted.

enjoyed this conversation! i’m canadian and won’t be saying a pledge lol - i haven’t seen or heard anything related to the coronation except online, though my gran did text to ask if i’d watched it so i assume it was on the news. honestly keep forgetting we don’t still have a queen.

The parliamentary oath of allegiance to the king is one of the main reasons for the Irish Civil War kicking off. The peace deal after the War of Independence that gave Ireland dominon status, similar to Canada and Australia today, required it, but that was unacceptable to some. It was eventually removed as part of the stealth transition to a republic.

I found it so interesting you both said you would be peer pressured into patriotism as a kid. Specifically when Evan said the other kids would be weird to you if you refused to say the pledge of allegiance. As a fellow American this was not my experience growing up at all. When I was growing up in the Midwest we absolutely HAD to say the pledge. It was a requirement and if you refused you would be in official trouble. You 💯 did it because you were being forced to. But you also didn’t really care because you didn’t mean it and were just going through the motions. No biggie. Like a fire drill or reciting a list of historical dates. Just doing what you’re told. On the rare occasions a kid didn’t say it or refused to say it and got in trouble, everyone CHEERED. That kid was hero for the day. Not because we were especially political for 2nd graders, but because acts of rebellion towards authority was always celebrated and respected. 😂😂😂 But my point is patriotism wasn’t encouraged by other kids where / when I grew up. It was entirely a grown up thing. It was something adults pushed on you while lecturing about respect. Country, church (depending on if they were religious), family, respecting your elders. Etc etc

I couldn't believe some Brits were amazed you had to pledge allegiance when becoming a citizen. I was shocked. On another thing when your friend said we don't like change, really, really hope the Tories get voted out of the elections next year BUT somehow I doubt it.

When I got married to my ex husband (he’s English, and I’m American) we got married at the local parish Church of England church in Essex. In order to get our marriage license I had to swear, officially, in a govt building that I wasn’t…. Catholic. I always found that odd.

I have an aunt (northern Irish) who had to do this when she got her Australian citizenship & it nearly killed her. Then she found out because she was born in NI, she could of avoided it because the Crown sees her as already loyal but I think being a subject of the crown at birth would even been more offensive to her

I felt that what King Charles was asking, was for the public support as he embarks on his voyage as the king, to be backed up by the country, so they can do a good job at serving the United Kingdom. The Monarchy, has many faults like any of us have, they are here above all, to be active in public service for Great Britain and for the Commonwealth countries, to support the government in a way, to promote Great Britain within the world stage and to support his chosen charities. I didn’t feel that was a big deal, was a message in search of support so they can serve the country and help those that need helping. Who knows… maybe some of us or anyone that we care about, have been already helped by a charity that is backed up by the Royals and not even know about it.

I love how you both came prepared with works cited it's such a pleasant video experience :)

To be fair, the American Pledge literally starts with "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of America" then goes into the "ideals"

I'm not British so my opinion is of no bearing, but I did watch the coronation for it's historical implications. Twas kinda cool seeing the coronation live and imagining what it would have looked like in the past. It connects you with history in a way

I absolutely do not swear fealty & I'm Scottish.

I’m vaguely fond of the monarchy but the pledge felt weird as hell so I didn’t do it.

More videos together with Luke please! You guys make a great team to create super interesting conversation :) I'd listen to an Evan & Luke podcast for sure!

Actually Evan The king never asked anyone to swear allegiance to him , it was the Archbishop of Canterbury who said it then the likes of sky news (fox's sister channel ) jumped on the bandwagon bit like Chinese whispers then when the other news channels picked it up it was then all changed to the king asking but he wasn't the one that asked , but the church should not have stayed silent while Charles was getting the blame someone should have said something .

I'm a royalist, I don't have a problem with a constitutional monarchy, but I'm relieved that this pledge was not a call on us, or a demand, but rather an invitation, as the individual should always get the final say. I'm also really concerned about the arrests of peaceful protesters. In a country that should be a bastion of free speech, where you are freely allowed to disagree with other people and institutions, it's quite terrifying.

Its clear these 2 don't get outside London much.

Apparently Canada will officially be printing King Charles on our coins and $20 bill next design. They announced this past week. I'm tempted to get a fresh $20 while it still has the queen and never spent it. Edit- Hey, this isn't the right channel to see Luke! Lol. And I've got a SciGuys next on my queue.

Might be just a tiny bit excessive to assume that Charley boy will be around for 20 to 30 years. He's pretty long in the tooth as it. He's only about six years short of the average UK age of death.

It makes sense to me that new citizens have to pledge while born citizens don’t. Outsiders have roots outside the nation. Automatic fondness, loyalty and family cannot be expected. Therefore, a conscious oath is not only expected but acts to make it clear to the new citizen the choice they are making and that when times are tough, they’re choosing their new home over their old one.

I found this video really interesting. I think that your friend articulated a lot of good points, some but by no means all of which, I agreed with. I also think that you are both advocating a very London view (understandably). I used to live in and love London but now I live outside. There is a reason why, when your friend drove around the countryside, he saw a very different reaction. Some of this is perhaps generational - I watched the Coronation the whole way through and most people I know watched at least most of it, although not everyone. I felt the swearing allegiance bit was un-British but I did it anyway, somewhat uncomfortably, because I support the Monarchy. The points around the Church of England were equally interesting. I am sure that you're right that a lot of people would decline to pay a tithe if they wanted to say that were members of the C of E. On the other hand, there are loads of people who want to be married in Church or have their loved ones buried by the Church who would not call themselves C of E or Christian. At the moment, they have a legal right to be married and buried by the C of E in the parish they live in, even if they profess another religion or are atheists. There are plenty of people who will join their local Church (for a few months, anyway) if it means that they can get their kids Christened there or it will get their kids into a Church school. I wonder if your German model proposal wouldn't also have a reverse impact from people who aren't religious but want a Church wedding, for example. More broadly, I fear that we are all living increasingly in bubbles. The gulf between different parts of our country is growing, fuelled in part by the internet, in part by our politicians and in part by our increasingly different economic and social experiences. It is really important to have measured debates and this video, which presents a lot of opinions different to mine, contributes to that, certainly for me. So, thank you.

Pledging allegiance to individuals, flags, anthems, politicians etc is an very Un--British Activity. It smacks of something that 'new' countries that are not confident in their institutions might do ........ I think this request has back-fired. The Aristocracy of Birth and Wealth have been in charge for a 1000 years ...... this smacks of a concern that they might not be in charge for another few decades and they're desperate for us to tell them that we'll still go along with it.

as an Australian i dont know a single person and i have a fairly wide circle of acquaintances in many social circles who A) cares about the monarchy or B) was even entertaining the idea of pledging allegiance to the King

King Charles didn’t request the pledge of allegiance. It was likely the Archbishop of Canterbury

I shall continue my childish, yet proud tradition of singing the Ren and Stimpy Royal Canadian Yaksmen anthem during others singing God Save the Queen/King!

Thank you guys, I'm not a US citizen, nor a UK one, but I have really appreciated your chats on monarchy, nations, countries, patriotism, values and religion.

I don't see the monarchy as representing my community. I'm a proud Welsh man (who also thinks Welsh culture is different from the rest of the UK) and traditionally we have not been terribly royalist. Monarchy in the UK seems to be about keeping the wealth and not looking after your fellow countryman. I'd like to think a more socialist leaning view would mean more wealth for everyone rather than kept at the top

i know it sounds weird and i don't mean it in a "he deserves more" way, not at all. I thought that the new king would've inherited more from his mom, queen elizabeth. 500m doesn't sound like "much" coming from the queens inheritance. I expected something in the low billions maybe lmao

The monarchy doesn't cost as much as many sources suggest because of the royal estate which is basically the government get 75% of the profits for the royal estate which most years saves money on the average persons taxes.

I think for Americans, the flag is the symbol, and for Brits, the symbol is the monarch. In both cases, it feels weird to me. Especially when it’s kids being requested to do this. (I’m a US citizen, if it matters.)

I'm going to put this out there. I think the Archibishop was thinking of the pledge in a religious way. In that God is a common unifier for so many people and people don't mind using words like worship or subject when it comes to god. So, seeing King Charles as a defender or head of the church. He used the same sort of language not kind of realising that people would treat it differently when it's referring to a person. He had good intentions. But they just backfired.

As a kid, I always thought doing the Pledge of Allegiance was stupid; as soon as I discovered that it wasn't compulsory, I refused to do it (tho' the teacher still required that I stand); I don't recall getting a lot of flack for it, except once in a school camp where every morning we had to do the pledge, and I didn't do it and didn't take my hat off, and a teacher came over to me, grabbed my hat off my head, and jammed it into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me as I doubled up on the ground. Great way to instill "respect for the flag" and patriotism, eh? 😞

I think it's complicated by the fact that, yes there is the whole inheritance tax and sovereign fund thing (which is definitely too much money, we should change that), but our government is currently not great and hasn't been for a while. And I know the idea is kinda messed up, but charles and will genuinely seem to think they have a duty to the country, and so they do actually do some good work. For example, Charles had massive diplomatic success in Germany a month or two ago (am currently a Brit on a year abroad in germany, and they absolutely loved him over here - my German supervisor was asking if I'd watched his speech and all). And we need friends as a country desperately right now, and tbh, charles and the royals seem to be doing a lot more for us in that regard than our government, so I think we would actually find international relations more difficult if we got rid of the royals entirely and just had our not very democratic government. The bigger problems are the CofE involvement (like the oath to the church from charles was way more detailed than that to the people - felt kinda medieval actually, and not in a good way), and the house of lords. That's worse. In general, yeah, monarchy is a messed up idea, but currently I like Charles more than our mps cause he cares about the environment, which is the biggest issue of our time (in terms of long term impact), so... yeah. If charles seemed to care less or didn't champion an issue I also value, I would be more republican probs. Our government is just so, so bad at the moment, and the royals do a lot of leg work for our international image (at least in europe)

Naturalized Canadian here, so I’m on the same boat as Evan. I already had to pledge allegiance to the Queen, and her heirs and successors when I became a Canadian citizen 🤷‍♀️

Evan , living in Australia - we are (for all practical purposes) independent and every few years the republican movement gets a rush of blood and attempts to get the head of state moved to a president. Australia is a relatively free , successful democracy - and it seems to be working just fine having a head of state who has no practical power BUT keeps power out of the hands of others with agendas.

21:05 Church tax is not the only thing why people leave the church in Germany. Especially (but not exclusively) the Catholic Church has had a lot of scandals that made this decision easier. (Also, the church tax is basically a payment service any church could register for, but smaller independent ones usually don't and have their own system)

I always got into fights with my teachers for not standing nor saying the pledge of allegiance, and I mean it’s my fucking right

Bro I have been waiting for this guy to come back he has been on my favorite video of yours 😂

omg the title is so real i feel exactly that way

I never pledged, never going to on principle

I feel that a glaring misunderstanding needs to be corrected. The monarchy made a deal with the Treasury in the 20s to not pay inheritance tax whilst still "funding" the crown. The Crown Estates makes a budget that says "we need this much to operate this year" which the government "gives" them. However this is after they have received all of the profits from the crown estates. If you compare one versus the other, the Crown pays 90%+ in tax. If you add this up over the last 70 years, not even adjusting for inflation, the Treasury has received well over £200M. If adjusted for inflation, it would be Brititsh Billions received. (Millions of millions not yhousands of millions.)

We were in hysterics when the Queen died, and a Tory MP gave one of her achievements as "She grew the Commonwealth," which if you think about it means "She watched the Empire shrink".

I had to make a pledge as a brownie/girl guide and I think my brother did the same as a cub scout, then later in the armed forces. These things are woven into British society and in some ways we become institutionalised and therefore accepting. However, having left the UK many years ago, I quite like this idea of a renewal simply because we can opt out whereas in other circumstances we are not given the choice. My views on monarchy have changed over the years but the problem of what to replace it with is the issue. No one is ready to see Boris Johnson or Tony Blair worming their way into the role of Head of State!

I don’t understand why pledging or not is such an important issue. Whether a person says the words or not, how is their life different in even the slightest way ??

12:00 Evan: "everyone loves you, you're now a member of a cool team!" Luke: "...a cult" HA

I’m glad they took the time to have this talk. However, I’m definitely 100% true monarchy and I did pledge my allegiance to his Majesty King Charles the third. No regrets.

Recent machinations by various persons and institutions in the US have warmed me to a constitutional monarchy. I was leaning towards republicism but the US example appears to have no teeth to punish the rich and powerful.

I hated the pledge of allegiance. I had to say it at my church club too. (Which was gross.) Once I hit high school I started saying I was a Scottish duel citizen and so would not be giving one country preference. It worked and I was pleased not to have to get up and down every day like a nob.

I could listen to you two talk about anything 😁 you guys should start a podcast if you don't already have one!

As a British person who moved to America in the past decade.. I had to also had to pledge allegiance to the USA/flag/etc upon citizenship, while my natural born American citizen partner did not have to take the same oath legally at any point. So I think that's just a thing everywhere when you immigrate? It's weird that it's still the monarchy you're pledging allegiance to when they're just figureheads we keep around for tourism at this point, though.

as soon as my anti monarchist ass saw that we had to pledge allegiance to the king I kid you not my legit first reaction was "f*** that"

I recently published this: For all my fellow Brits who want to abolish the monarchy, I have one remark. Do you really believe the British electorate can be trusted with electing a Head of State? This from the people who, when offered a public vote chose: 1. Boaty McBoatface; 2. Brexit; 3. Boris Johnson (and by default Liz Truss). Expect to see the following on any Presidential ballot: 1. Larry the Downing Street Cat; 2. A bacon sandwich; 3. Postman Pat. British humour is so anarchic that we cannot be trusted to put a Head of State in place.

I had a great day, woke about lunchtime, watched the Formula E then went to the pub. Watched not a single second of it.

Me (a british citizen) missing the coronation because I thought it was on the Monday because we were given a bank holiday, only to see it had already happened on the Saturday😐

13:38 whenever someone asks me "To you, what was the most common London thing ever?" I answer "Mind the gap". I've visited this city 10-ish times in my life, and this phrase is deeply ingrained in my experience because I've been using the tube multiple times every single day.

Extreme wealth aside it seems like a punishment more than an honor to be a royal. I hope Charles lives a long time to spare Will and George from having to make it their life. I feel bad for little George, his destiny has been planned since before his birth. Lovely to see you back on the channel Luke :)

I thought it was funny how many Scottish/Irish/welsh people were seeing “shove your coronation up your ash”

So glad you are doing this topic.

The UK had a republic once upon a time. It was called the Commonwealth, and it was head from 1649 by Oliver Cromwell (faming for having the First King Charles lose his head) till his death in 1658. The republic had a problem with religion, specifically over the puritan-inspired laws put on them; famously including no Christmas and whatnot. Cromwell'd son took over but Charles II (headless king's son) was invited by the masses in 1660 to be their king. So while I don't see why they should exist, the current political system is shit. Plain and simple And I don't see a way out for this country from what could end up as anarchy.

I understand your point about inheritance tax. Here’s another point of view. The “assets” are not owned by the King. He cannot sell the Crown Jewels etc….should the cash money be taxed. Absolutely

My Mum spent 3 years in an American High School growing up. She said the other kids would be funny with her that she didn't want to do tye pledge because she was British

King Charles reading “Mind The Gap”, you for real?! 😂

Honestly i feel like this is such a constructive, useful and eye opening discussion!

As a British Australian I definitely did not swear allegiance. Was too busy celebrating my anniversary to remember that it was coronation day at all. A bit annoyed we didn't even get a public holiday out of it down here in Aus but I guess it was on a Saturday anyway.

This has made me think a lot. Really interesting discussion 👌🏻

When I was in first grade in an American school I feel asleep in the morning and missed the pledge of allegiance. My teacher woke me up and shouted at me thinking I was making some sort of political statement saying something to the effect of “I don’t know what you are taught at home but here we stand for the flag”. Definitely one of the strangest moments of my life.

The coronation wasnt really a big thing in Canada. I actually saw more about the fashion of the attendees than the actual ceremony

This sort of reminds me of something George Takei talked about. His entire family was rounded up during WWII and put in a Japanese American concentration camp. He was 5 years old. After one year in the camp, they had to sign off on an American Loyalty questionnaire. Two of the questions where totally outlandish. Question number 27 asked if Nisei men were willing to serve on combat duty wherever ordered and asked everyone else if they would be willing to serve in other ways, such as serving in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Question number 28 asked if individuals would swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and forswear any form of allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. Both questions caused a great deal of concern and unrest. Citizens resented being asked to renounce loyalty to the Emperor of Japan when they had never held a loyalty to the Emperor. Japanese immigrants were barred from becoming U.S. citizens on the basis of racial exclusion, so renouncing their only citizenship would be problematic. Young men worried that declaring their willingness to serve in combat units of the army would be akin to volunteering. If you said no to both questions you were sent to a camp for disloyal Japanese Americans in Northern California, surrounded by three rows of barbed wire fences, and patrolled by 6 tanks. with machine gun towers pointed inward. Bear in mind these are American born citizens. I wonder how British American born citizens would have taken the same questions. #27 wouldn't have been quite so problematic, but you have to remember these young men were being asked to agree to fight for a country that had their parents and siblings in a concentration camp and they had been there for a year already. When originally trying to volunteer to fight they had been denied and told they weren't even citizens, but enemy aliens. Would you say "Sure, I'll fight for you." after enduring that? Oh and your parents will still be in that camp the whole time your at war over seas. #28 would be "Do you pledge unqualified allegiance to the US, and forswear any allegiance to the Monarchy of England?" Of course if you answer yes than you are also admitting you were loyal to the British Monarchy. You Redcoat! Of course British Americans didn't have to worry, although German Americans did. They had concentration camps as well, but not nearly as infamous as the ones of their Japanese American counterparts.

I find it really interesting, growing up in the US, everyone said the pledge kinda mindlessly in elementary school (including a cousin of mine who is not a US citizen) but by high school most people just remained quiet during the pledge. I usually remained seated and halfheartedly mumbled it but in french.

For me, it's not so much about tourism etc, but more about keeping the politicians out of the top jobs (head of armed forces etc)

My experience of this was all my friends and people at work my age (under 30) did not care much about the coronation bar, as you mentioned, it was pretty and historic and interesting. BUt, our parents and grandparents were really into it. My mum had friends that camped out on the Mall and they're having street parties today ect. And yes, people liked the bank holiday, but i work in hospitality so i'm working today regardless... so that's not a benefit for a lot of people. so i'm a bit, meh about it all.... I did not pledge allegiance, it felt wrong tbh.

I am a royalist and I didn't do the pledge. It's a choice. I find it odd that the USA pledges to a flag/country so I did not choose to pledge to the king

Fascinating discussion. I will do the thing you spoke of and only voice my opinions to my nearest and dearest!

It's interesting we are consider as being low on freedom of speech when countries like China removes candidates and media that do not espouse the party line. Are we held to different standards than other countries. By the way the money the Monarchy gets is from the Crown Estates, the government depending on if any of the Royal buildings need renovation work keeps the other 65 to 75%.

I am happy for the royal family to exist and the cost of the coronation will l think be less than the cost in the US of inauguration of presidents. What I will not be doIng is making any pledges to the king.

I’m Scottish and I identify as a human being or if it fits better for other’s narrative I’m neither Scottish or British I’m a person living on this rock we all live on and should try to make a better life for ourselves and those that come after us. Too many people right now can’t see passed their own faces and see the rather huge picture of what’s happening we as a generation that could have done something are literally watching the start of the end and it won’t be pretty by any means

I was thinking the same wtf did you do that for 😅 regarding getting British citizenship. 😂 For all of eternity!!!

I loved the Queen and was truly saddened by her passing but I as a Scottish woman will never pledge myself to anyone other than my family partner and children

Not my king.

I became a British Citizen 10 years ago and I had to swear allegiance to the Queen, which I had absolutely no problem doing, as I took it as an essential part of being British. By the way you didn’t have to say, “So help me God”. There was an alternative option for the atheists. Consequently, I felt a lot of respect and some sense of loyalty to the Queen. When she died I was shocked and emotional. I even considered joining the queue, probably would have if not for work. But I don’t feel the same about Charles. I don’t care about him, wouldn’t swear the allegiance to him. I am generally in favour of there being monarchy in the UK, but Charles and Camilla are not it. I agree that William would be a better choice from the marketing perspective.

I'm not sure that having an elected head of state as happens in the USA is necessarily better given the last two incumbents and the severe and violent divisions it leads to in the country.

New US citizens have to swear to preserve the US Constitution, which has its issues.