It's not just you, and it's the sort of thing that we can look forward to here in the USA if the Left is allowed to prevail.
What’s wrong with the old version?
It reminds the bearer that he or she is part of a great nation with very ancient, important and special traditions that have stood the tests of time. All of this is anathema to the EU in that it suggests that the weight of history has significance, as opposed to the EU's desire that all people instantly embrace a "constitution" drawn up by West-hating Marxist / socialist attorneys and diplomats in Brussels, with the primary focus being the elimination of important traditions, not the maintenance of them. Traditions stand in the way of the forward march of worldwide socialism, something that they cannot tolerate.
Well, speaking as a Brit...
It’s not that I love the sample language suggested for the new version. But I would have to say that if you want your country to be a republic, like I do and like the US is, then the old version really isn’t quite appropriate. I could say (and George Washington could say with me) that it’s no business of Her Britannic Majesty whether I cross MY country’s borders or not.
This is also why the pointy-heads are so keen to redraw the maps. They want to do away with the so-called "ceremonial" counties of ancient memory (e.g. Kent and Yorkshire) in favor of mushy "regions" that have no hold of tradition or identity on the inhabitants.
They haven't yet succeeded in England, though a few minor counties such as Rutland have been eliminated. The process is well under way in France, where such illustrious provinces as Perche and Gascony have simply been wiped off the map.
-ccm