THE COMMONWEALTH : Canada Ponders a Royal Divorce From Britain : Windsor clan’s bickering stirs separation anxiety. Polls show a slight majority agree the monarchy has outlived its usefulness in the former colony.

The public feuding among Britain’s royal dysfunctional family, including the recent announcement that Queen Elizabeth II wants the Prince and Princess of Wales to head for divorce court, has more and more Canadians wondering: Is it time for this country to separate itself from the entire Windsor clan, who also happen to be monarchs of Canada?

This isn’t a tidal wave of opinion here; most Canadians prefer to devote their attention to important things, like hockey. But there is growing sentiment for making Canada a republic.

The movement remains far behind Australia, another former British colony, where a plebiscite on dumping the royals is expected before the year 2000. But national polls over the last few years show a slight majority of Canadians agree that the monarchy has outlived its usefulness here.

Peter C. Newman, an influential historian and writer, added his voice to the chorus in a column this month in Maclean’s magazine. “We ought to ditch the British monarchy,” he wrote, describing the House of Windsor as “an inbred family of promiscuous mediocrities.”

He added that exiling the royals might even help suppress Quebec’s separatists by demonstrating that Canada is “open to revolutionary new ideas and fresh ways of governing.”

Under Canada’s constitution, the British sovereign is head of state. As a practical matter, however, Queen Elizabeth isn’t around much. She last toured Canada in August 1994, her 18th visit. Prince Charles is even less in evidence; he has been to Canada twice in the last decade for a total of 15 days. Over the same period, the Monarchist League of Canada noted peevishly last March, Canada’s putative future king made eight visits to the United States totaling 40 days.

Most royal functions are carried out by the governor general, technically appointed by the queen but selected by the Canadian prime minister. The job demands attendance at parties, living in a luxurious riverside mansion in Ottawa and collecting a tax-free salary of $71,780 a year. The qualifications of Romeo LeBlanc, the incumbent, appear to be that he is a nice guy, a warm public speaker and a longtime stalwart of the governing Liberal Party.

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Which is not to say that the royal family does not command media attention, if nothing else, here. Princess Diana’s recent tell-all interview with the BBC was telecast in its entirety by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. over two nights, along with copious analysis.

The Globe and Mail, Canada’s newspaper of record, turned over much of the front page for two days running to the queen’s divorce order. The tone was not always reverent. European bureau chief Madelaine Drohan called Charles “slightly weird.”

The Windsors are also spoofed periodically on CBC Television’s two weekly programs of satire, “Royal Canadian Air Farce” and “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.” “Air Farce” recently portrayed the queen hawking her new family history: “Hot, Horny and Inbred.” Prince Charles was depicted as a mama’s boy, and his mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles, was represented by the off-screen bark of a dog.

“There’s a level at which people expect them [the royals] to provide some comic relief,” said Mary Walsh, the creative force behind “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.”

Garry Toffoli, Ontario chairman of the Monarchist League, said that despite the current downturn in popularity for the royals, he sees little long-term threat. The institution extends deeper into Canadian life than the queen’s portrait on a stamp, he noted.

“Catholicism is more than just the pope or the papacy . . . and the monarchy is more than just the queen or the royal family,” Toffoli said. “It goes through all of our society. Abolishing the monarchy is not just lopping off the queen. It means changing our entire form of government and society. It’s not that easy.”

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