Why King Charles's upcoming visit to Canada is unprecedented in many ways
It's a quick trip to a place he's been 19 times before.
In a few days, King Charles will arrive in Canada. As the country's head of state, he will deliver the speech from the throne to open the new session of Parliament in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated taunts that the country could become the 51st state.
But the visit on May 26 and 27, short as it is, is an unprecedented outing on multiple fronts.
"Unprecedented for Canada, unprecedented for Charles personally, unprecedented for the Crown and unprecedented for the state of affairs in North America," royal historian Justin Vovk said in an interview.
Given that potential weight, just how much is riding on this visit, which comes at the invitation of new Prime Minister Mark Carney, who announced it just four days after his Liberals won election to form a minority government?
WATCH | Speech emphasizes country's sovereignty, Carney says:
Carney says King Charles opening Parliament 'underscores' Canada's sovereignty
16 days ago
Duration 2:31
Vovk sees what's at stake in two extremes: "Everything and nothing."
"On the one hand, nothing is riding on it, because of the constitutional mechanisms that separate the head of state from the prime minister. Even if the visit is a gaffe, our system of governance will continue … and it won't negatively impact the lives of Canadians," he said.
"But at the same time, we know that Washington will be watching. We know that the president will be watching. We know that the other Commonwealth realms will be watching.
"I think it's a safe assumption that Charles and the royal household are very much aware that this visit has to go flawlessly, because if it does, if it goes as well as [Charles's recent visit to Italy], this could be a unifying and stabilizing force for Canada that could help us weather this very turbulent period where Canadians are very concerned about the future."
The visit will be Charles's first to Canada as monarch. Planning for a trip around this time a year ago was put off after his cancer diagnosis earlier in 2024.
It's a rarity for the monarch to deliver the speech from the throne in Canada. Charles's mother, Queen Elizabeth, did it twice in her 70-year reign — once to open Parliament in 1957 (also her first trip here as monarch) and, 20 years later, when she was here marking her Silver Jubilee and read a speech to open the third session of the 30th Parliament.
Never has a King read the speech in Ottawa — Elizabeth's father, King George VI, granted royal assent to several bills when he and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, visited Canada in 1939, but he didn't read a speech from the throne.
"This will only be the third time in Canadian history that the reigning monarch has been here doing this ceremonial work, but also, I think … politically very significant reading of the throne speech," David Johnson, a retired political science professor in Cape Breton, N.S., said in an interview.
Canadian throne speeches, which lay out the government's expected direction and goals, aren't typically magnets for the international media, but Johnson expects this one will be different.
"It will make big news in Canada, it will also make news internationally. It will make news in Britain. It will make news in Europe, and I'm sure Mark Carney knows this, most importantly, this will make news in the United States," Johnson said.
"I think the prime minister wants to make much more news with this and to send … ceremonial but … subtly real messages to the United States that we are different from them.
"We have a completely different constitutional order, we are a different nation, we have a sovereignty, and the King is the symbolic manifestation of the Canadian Constitution and the Canadian government."
Johnson will be watching closely for the wording within the throne speech that will be crafted by Canadian officials.
"They will want to say something about the United States that gets picked up in the White House. And of course it will all be diplomatic.
"But again, do they use the word 'threat' or do they use the word 'challenging times' and how [will] they refer to the Canadian government dealing with the American administration. And then governments all around the world will be listening and looking at this language word for word. So that's important.'"
There is no public indication yet of any additional engagements for King Charles and Queen Camilla during their two-day visit, which is Charles's 20th to the country, and Camilla's fifth.
On previous visits as Prince of Wales, Charles has shown interest in a wide range of issues, including Indigenous reconciliation and environmental and conservation matters.
"He's been very vocal over the years about how important Canada is to him personally, how important Canada is to the monarchy," said Vovk.
"But it will be interesting to see what comments he will have outside of the throne speech when he is here, too, because he will be expressing those as King of Canada, not as Prince of Wales."
Charles met with two of his Canadian representatives in recent days. At Buckingham Palace, he had audiences with Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on May 5 and Saskatchewan Lt.-Gov. Bernadette McIntyre on Wednesday. McIntrye gave Charles Saskatchewan-themed gifts, including lentil and chickpea snacks, mustard and two wool scarves produced by a mill near Caron, Sask. In a news release on her website, McIntrye said she was honoured to meet with the King and to express her "gratitude for his strong support of Canada and Canadian sovereignty."
Sitting down for a chat at a tea party
Prince George couldn't hide his curiosity.
The 11-year-old son of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, sat down and eagerly chatted with Second World War veterans and their families at a tea party.
George is frequently seen with his younger siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, at events, but until now it has been rare to see the second in line to the throne spend any extended time with people the royals routinely meet.
But as members of the Royal Family took part in commemorations as part of the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, George was visibly more involved than he generally has been in meeting and greeting guests at royal engagements.
Vovk wasn't surprised to see George chatting as he did with veterans at the party at Buckingham Palace on May 5, and saw it as "exactly the kind of event" he would be part of as he gradually grows into his role as a future King.
"The Royal Family's associations with the military and with service run so deeply that it would be very important in their values for their children, particularly George, to know how to talk with and interact with servicemen and women, veterans, the elderly."
Judith Rowbotham, a social and cultural scholar and visiting research professor at the University of Plymouth in southwestern England, found it "significant and noteworthy" how George's parents handled his participation in the tea party.
It wasn't announced ahead of time, which meant there was no prior media pressure and speculation about it, Rowbotham said via email. George was asked by his parents if he would like to go with his father and decided he would.
"That lack of prior public knowledge of his attendance meant that if he had changed his mind, there would have been no criticism of him and no hurtful speculation about why," Rowbotham added.
"I think that that underlines just how carefully and thoughtfully the Prince and Princess of Wales are bringing up their eldest child — accustoming him to being on public view, but limiting it and giving him options about his participation so that he is not too overwhelmed. There will be more of the same in years to come before he starts doing official duties formally."
Vovk said there were "some really nice candid shots" of George at the tea party that showed him laughing, when so often in photos he has appeared more solemn.
Vovk also saw George's appearance at the party as part of a "bonding experience" with his father.
"There seems to be a much more hands-on and direct approach that William in particular is taking with George than I think we've ever seen with the Prince of Wales," he said.
"We've never seen that level of direct parental involvement in nurturing with a future monarch. And I think that is something a lot of people want to see. They want to see if the monarchy has kind of learned its lessons about how it handles the next generation."
Slim hope for reconciliation
Prince Harry says he "would love reconciliation" with members of his family, but the prospects of that happening anytime soon appear slim.
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC in California — where he lives — after he lost a legal challenge over his security arrangements in the U.K., Harry said he was "devastated" by the ruling and that his father, King Charles, won't speak to him "because of this security stuff."
Rowbotham says Harry doesn't understand that in this circumstance, his father can't talk to him.
"Even a rumour of a conversation between them could have real constitutional implications — the King's son is suing the King's government in the King's court," she said.
"Charles has to stand aloof because he cannot be seen to have any opinion on such a sensitive issue. Until and unless it is formally confirmed that Prince Harry has abandoned his protection claim, his father cannot properly afford to talk to him even without anything on that topic being discussed."
Charles the man and father is likely to be very sad, Rowbotham said.
"But he takes his coronation oath very seriously and I believe that as King, he clearly accepts that any reconnection must be preceded by a clear and unequivocal acceptance of the court decision supported by a [visit by Harry's family] to the U.K. surrounded by their own personal security."
Vovk sees little prospect of reconciliation in the current circumstances.
"How do you find reconciliation in a situation where one party still sees themself as the victim … while also perpetuating the situation?"
Royally quotable
"For as my grandfather put it: 'We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will.'"
— King Charles, quoting his grandfather King George VI during a speech marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
Royal reads
Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace. [BBC]
King Charles saw a 30 million-pound ($55.6-million Cdn) increase in wealth last year, pushing his personal fortune to 640 million pounds ($1.2 billion Cdn), and ranks joint 238th on the list of the U.K.'s wealthiest people and families. [The Guardian]
A rose has been named after Catherine, Princess of Wales, to highlight the healing power of nature, a topic she has been focused on, particularly in the past year, after she was diagnosed and completed chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Catherine also urged people to "reconnect to nature and celebrate a new dawn within our hearts" in the first of a series of social media videos aimed at raising awareness around mental health. [BBC, ITV]
An exact cast of a Windsor oak tree, a giant canopy of stone lilies and a "graceful and strong" stone bridge symbolizing Queen Elizabeth as the bedrock of the United Kingdom are among shortlisted designs for a commemoration of the late monarch. [The Guardian]
King Charles and Queen Camilla unveiled new state portraits on the second anniversary of their coronation day. [BBC]
King Charles will host French President Emmanuel Macron for a state visit to the U.K. in July. [ITV]
Eight centuries after Henry III rebuilt Westminster Abbey as the gothic landmark it remains today, Queen Camilla unveiled the foundation stone for a building on the medieval footprint of a long-lost sacristy. The King Charles III sacristy will offer welcoming, ticketing and security facilities for the abbey. [The Guardian]
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