The idea of abolishing the British monarchy crops up in the media every once in while. I've wondered about doing a timeline in which the monarchy was abolished some decades ago , so that the UR (we wouldn't be the UK any more!) has presidential elections every seven years or so. The President would be a figurehead, real power would remain with the Prime Minister, but nevertheless there could be some very interesting candidates, especially if things weren't done on party political lines.
A couple of questions:
1) the most plausible POD that I see is that Edward VIII refuses to abdicate , and reigns - in a rather unpopular way - through WW2. After the war the Labour government organises a referendum on the monarchy. Does this seem reasonable?
2) has this idea been done here before?