It looks — at least to us — like Brexit is going to have to be decided by Queen Elizabeth II. Will Her Majesty give her Royal Assent to the bill the Commons has just passed outlawing a so-called no-deal-Brexit? That is, will she be the one to forsake the independence of her own kingdom? Or will she protect the monarchy, which has been sovereign for a thousand years?

That it could all come down to the monarch who sits on the British throne is amazing. We understand that this is a minority estimate, and by a newspaper born to republican cloth. Then again, too, our understanding is that before a measure that has passed the Commons becomes law, it must be passed by the Lords. The betting is that it the anti-Brexit bill will pass the Lords with ease.

In theory, their lackadaisical lordships could bestir themselves. After all, the measure was rushed through the Commons in what may be record time, a fact that itself casts doubt on the anti-Brexit bill. It passed, in the event, by but a single vote. Even so, their lordships may sleep through the whole thing, if they bother to show up at all. That’s how the Lords are.

Then, however, the measure will have to go to Elizabeth for the Royal Assent. It’s only upon the monarch’s assent that an Act of Parliament becomes the law of the land. It’s always struck us that, at least privately, Elizabeth must be appalled at the idea of her realm being absorbed by the European Union and ruled from Brussels.

Our favorite Brexit moment was when the London Sun issued its now-famous front-page headline “Queen Backs Brexit.” It broke the news that in private remarks, Her Majesty had expressed in no uncertain terms her partiality toward British independence. The palace hotly denied it, but we called it “Elizabeth’s Finest Hour.” How, after all, could the Queen not have favored independence?

Anyhow, if the anti-Brexit bill is to become law, it will have to have the Royal Assent. That tends to be taken for granted. After all, the last time a Royal declined to assent to an act of Parliament was, according to the BBC, in 1707, when Queen Anne refused to assent to a bill settling the militia in Scotland. Then again, too, 312 years is the blink of an eye in the span of the British monarchy.

It looks to us as if Her Majesty has two options, if she wants to protect Brexit. One would be just to withhold her assent. There seems to be some suggestion that she can’t do this save on the advice of her ministers. Then again, too, most of the Conservatives voted against the ant-Brexit bill yesterday. So what’s to stop them from advising her to do, in effect, the same?

Alternatively, ERII could use her reserve powers to delay granting assent. That would be a way of getting Britain past April 12, when Britain automatically, as the alarmists like to phrase it, “crashes out” of the EU. We rather like the phrasing, actually, speaking from the independent soil of a country that itself “crashed out” of the United Kingdom.

As for all the palaver about how it would somehow be irregular for Queen Elizabeth to withhold her consent, hah! Since the day the parliamentary establishment decided to try to foil the vote of the British people, the campaign against Brexit has been a bonfire of political norms. If Queen Elizabeth steps up, she will secure her legacy for another thousand years.