a republic: In 1952, the title of South African Navy vessels HMSAS (His Majesty's South African Ship) had been changed to SAS (South African Ship) In 1957, the Crown had been removed from the badges of the defence force and police, or replaced with the Union Lion from the crest of the country's coat of arms In 1958, the inscription '"O.H.M.S." (On Her Majesty's Service), used on official mail, was replaced with "On Government Service". The new decimalised currency, the Rand, which did not feature the Queen's portrait on either notes or coinage, had been introduced on 14 February 1961, three months before the establishment of the Republic. Prior to its introduction, the government considered removing the Queen's head from the coinage of the South African pound. Constitutional changes The most notable difference between the Constitution of the Republic and that of the Union was that the State President was the ceremonial head of state, in place of the Queen and Governor-General. The title of "State President" (Staatspresident in Afrikaans) was previously used for the heads of state of both the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The National Party decided against having an executive presidency, instead adopting a minimalist approach, as a conciliatory gesture to whites who were opposed to a republic; the office did not become an executive post until 1984. Similarly, the Union Jack remained a feature of the country's flag until 1994, despite its unpopularity among many Afrikaners, and a proposal to adopt a new design on the tenth anniversary of the republic in 1971. Under the new Constitution, Afrikaans and English remained official languages, but the status of Afrikaans in relation to Dutch was altered; whereas the South Africa Act had made Dutch an official language alongside English, with Dutch defined to include Afrikaans under the Official Languages of the Union Act in 1925, the 1961 Constitution reversed this by making Afrikaans an official language alongside English, defining Afrikaans to include Dutch. Public holidays The change in South Africa's constitutional status also resulted in changes to the country's public holidays, with the Queen's Birthday, commemorated on the second Monday in July, being replaced by Family Day, while Union Day, commemorating the establishment of the Union on 31 May, became Republic Day. Empire Day, which was commemorated on 24 May, but had come to be seen as an anachronism, had been abolished in 1952.