Monarchy of Canada

The Monarchy of Canada was the highest institution of state power in Canada from the federation's establishment in 1867 to its transition to a republican form of government in 1988, via the Acts of Republic, three complimentary acts which made the switch from a constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic system, leaving intact the Westminster-style system of all federal and provincial politics (the only real change being the severance of the office of Governor General from the Monarchy and its renaming as the President of Canada which would subsequently be popularly elected). To this day, however, former Canadian monarchs, especially the last one, namely Queen Elizabeth II, are displayed on important government communications as well as coins and cash, and the "royal" prefix used by many governmental organisations remains in place (such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada's federal law enforcement agency). Similarly, as the term "the Crown" already ultimately referred to the state in all its aspects, terms such as "Crown counsel" or "Crown Prosecution Service" retain this title, and the great majority of official government emblems topped by a crown, including the Arms of Canada, retain the crown as a symbol of the state.

As such, while the Monarchy of Canada no longer exists in the country's parliamentary republic system, the continued use of monarchy-era symbolism is both an acknowledgement of the nation's history and a formalisation of what was already de facto the case (namely, the Monarchy of Canada no longer having any relevance to the country's political system, and the royal symbolism having more to do with the state in its abstraction than an actual monarchy, which had always been far-removed from Canadian politics as it was the same monarchy which ruled, and still rules, the United Kingdom).