It is ridiculous for a democratic country to have a monarch.

Constitutional monarchs are an expedient solution to the problem of leadership. They also provide continuity with the past and a sense of history. Depending on the quality of the individual they can be excellent.

The current UK arrangement is rather too set in it's ways, but that is probably an accurate reflection of the nation as a whole.

I would prefer something more like the Witan for choosing a Monarch rather than a strict line based on descendants.

What he said.

Now I'd be less bothered by something like a Witenagemot than with primogeniture — male-line or otherwise.

But I still think (as a Brit) that it's fundamentally wrong for the head of state to be a position to which no-one in the country (with a single-digit number of exceptions) can ever aspire to. And especially that we should pay taxes in order to support them.