Essays in Idleness

Canadians, and subjects in the other fourteen British realms, remain disturbed and in shock at the most gender-bending event in our modern history. For, since September 2022, our beloved Queen has been replaced by a man. It is now the second “Victoria Day” since this appalling event occurred, and as I must use his preferred pronoun, His Majesty has begun to appear even on our (base-metal) coins — although not yet on our more valuable paper currency. Were it not for our incompetent bureaucracy, all continuity might have been lost.

The original Fête was meant to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birth, which actually happened on 24th May 1819, although Canadian politicians had tampered with this date to make it fall more “conveniently” on a Monday. (God rest their souls deep in forgetfulness.) Elizabeth II reigned for more than seventy years, Victoria for a mere sixty-three (despite an earlier start). We may hope Charles III will reign forever, but it would be more appropriate if he had not changed his sex. Of course, the royal ideologues insist, he was always a man, and I will observe they have a biological point. But all my life, and that of most others who were born within British North America, we have had a Queen. I cannot get used to so much “chopping and changing,” as a certain close relative used to complain.