King Charles visits Canada amid Trump's calls for 51st state status

By Brian Platt

 

  King Charles III arrived in Canada to open a new parliamentary session at the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Carney, a move designed in part to send a message to US President Donald Trump about the northern country’s sovereignty. 

A greeting party of Canadian officials, Indigenous leaders, schoolchildren and an army regiment known as the Royal Canadian Dragoons met the King at Ottawa’s airport Monday, along with a large contingent of TV cameras and journalists.

 

The pageantry of the occasion also came with subtle nods to the fraught politics, coming after Trump’s repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st US state. Queen Camilla wore the Queen Mother’s Diamond Maple Leaf Brooch, which was first gifted by King George VI to his wife ahead of their 1939 royal tour to Canada. 

 

 

On Tuesday, King Charles will read the throne speech, a document written by Carney’s office that will lay out his government’s priorities. The speech will give more detail on how the prime minister plans to implement his seven main goals.

 

First on that list is to negotiate a new economic and security relationship with the US, while building stronger ties with “reliable trading partners and allies around the world” — including the UK.

 

It will be the first time since 1977 that Canada’s monarch has read the speech to Parliament. The monarchy’s representative in Canada, currently Governor General Mary Simon, usually reads the speech.

 

“It’s a fairly blunt instrument in terms of the signal that’s trying to be sent,” said Philippe Lagasse, a professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University who specializes in parliamentary governance and institutions.

 

“But I think it’s an effective one if you’re trying to communicate to this particular president,” Lagasse said, noting Trump has said he admires King Charles. “He’s visiting us first, he’s opening our Parliament and he’s also the King of Canada.” 

 

Although the King, with his sensitive constitutional position, is unlikely to directly reference Canada’s war of words with Trump, Carney’s office has been more upfront about the reasons for the visit. “This historic honor matches the weight of our times,” Carney said in a statement earlier this month. “Canada has a steadfast defender in our sovereign.”

 

The King, clad in a red tie, toured a packed community festival in Ottawa that featured a street hockey game, a market and music. He also took part in a ceremonial tree planting before holding private meetings with Carney and Simon.

 

After delivering the throne speech Tuesday, King Charles will lay a wreath at Canada’s national war memorial before returning to the UK.

 

The King’s visit is not just aimed at American and international eyes, Lagasse said. It’s also meant to reassure Canadians about their own country’s bedrock institutions and system of government. 

 

“I see it as highlighting that we don’t have the American system,” he said. “We have our own unique historical institutions that date back a thousand years. That’s the continuity of this. We inherited them from the United Kingdom, but we’ve adapted them to make them our own.”