Queen Elizabeth II turned 94 years old earlier this week. It seems churlish to say it, but the Queen’s actual birthday is a reminder that the “Second Elizabethan Age” is coming to an end. We’re forced to though by the fact that monarchy is hereditary. The life and health of the monarch defines who the head of state is, and you can’t escape talking about what happens next. It’s time to start thinking and making changes for what comes next.

When the Queen was crowned in 1952, it was declared as the Second Elizabethan Age, harking back to the reign of Elizabeth I, a tumultuous time in which England went from a bit player in Europe to a European power. In contrast, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has seen Britain’s decline from world power status. Most of what was the British Empire has gone its own way.

The Queen has the fairly strange distinction of being head of state for a number of countries that became independent and then replaced the British monarch with their own heads of state. It’s an oft-repeated point in our own head of state debate that many of these countries struggled with democratic government prior to having their own heads of state (e.g. Fiji or Pakistan) and have continued to struggle since.

The end of the Second Elizabethan Age is almost upon us. There are changes we could make now to simplify our path ahead - specifically with the de facto head of state, our Governor-General. Let’s get on to that before this age is over.