King Charles’ visit sends subtle message to a certain non-Canadian amid 51st-state talk

Toronto: The last time Canada’s monarch opened a session of parliament was in 1977, when Queen Elizabeth II visited the country as part of her Silver Jubilee tour. On Tuesday, King Charles III will become only the second monarch in Canada’s history to participate in the historic ritual. From a walnut throne adorned with a spray of gold maple leaves, Charles, who is Canada’s head of state, will deliver the “speech from the throne”.

His presence, at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation, is widely viewed as sending a subtle message of resistance to a certain non-Canadian with a fondness for the British royal family: US President Donald Trump.

King Charles and Queen Camilla visit Canada House on Trafalgar Square in London this month to mark 100 years since it opened.Credit: AP

Amid the president’s talk of erasing the “arbitrary” US-Canada border and making Canada the 51st state – “never say never,” he told Carney this month, after being told once again that the country is “not for sale” – Charles and Queen Camilla’s two-day visit is meant to underscore Canada’s sovereignty, said Ralph Goodale, Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, the equivalent to an ambassador in Commonwealth countries.

“The king, as head of state, will reinforce the power and the strength of that message,” Goodale said last week, “and it is, as I said before, captured in our anthem. We are the ‘true north strong and free’, and we will stay that way.”

The throne speech, which is written by the government, will detail Carney’s priorities after his victory in a dramatic federal election last month. The speech is usually read by the governor-general, Charles’ representative in Canada, as part of a ceremony filled with pomp and pageantry.

But this opening of parliament will be particularly rich with symbolism, analysts say, demonstrating that Canada is distinct from the United States and has its own history, traditions and system of government.

“It’s an expression of the fact that Canada already has a higher authority: it is the king of Canada, not the US president,” said Craig Prescott, author of Modern Monarchy. Charles’ opening of parliament was a “symbolic expression without necessarily having to directly tell Trump ‘hands off’”.

Pete Hoekstra, the US ambassador to Canada, said the “implication” of the King’s visit wasn’t lost on him – but as far as he was concerned, Trump had moved on from the 51st state discussion, and Canadians should too.

“We’re thrilled that the King will be here,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “If there’s a message in there, you know, there’s easier ways to send me messages. Just give me a call.”

The king’s big diplomatic headache

Trump’s threats to annex the largest of Charles’ realms have posed an extraordinary diplomatic headache for the 76-year-old monarch, who is supposed to be apolitical, yet has to balance the competing interests of his prime ministers.

The King’s response – or lack thereof, in the view of critics – has drawn scrutiny in Canada.

Charles is King of the United Kingdom and King of Canada – nations taking different approaches to Trump. Canada has hit back against the threats to its sovereignty and tariffs on its goods, which have stirred a rally-round-the-flag moment. Carney came to power casting himself as the person best placed to take on Trump and announced the King’s visit days after the election.

Britain, meanwhile, has sought a more conciliatory approach with the president in hopes of protecting the “special relationship”. The royal family is a tool of soft power for the government, which has sought to deploy it to secure more amicable ties with Trump.

That has put the King in a “delicate diplomatic situation”, said Carolyn Harris, a royal historian and instructor at the University of Toronto’s school of continuing studies.

When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Washington in February, he extended an unprecedented second state visit to Trump, an invitation that was signed by the King and presented with much flourish in the Oval Office.

“A beautiful man, a wonderful man,” Trump said of Charles, as he scanned the two-page letter.

Canadians were not amused.

Mark Carney came to power casting himself as the person best placed to take on Donald Trump and announced the King’s visit days after the election.Credit: Bloomberg

“To be frank,” Carney told Sky News this month, “they weren’t impressed by that gesture, quite simply, given the circumstance. It was at a time when we were being quite clear … about the issues around sovereignty.”

At a news conference during Starmer’s visit, a reporter asked if the King was concerned about Trump’s repeated threats to annex one of the 14 realms, in addition to the UK, where Charles is head of state. Starmer replied that Canada did not come up in his conversations with Trump.

The president quickly cut Starmer off.

Subtle signals from Buckingham Palace

Britain and Canada are constitutional monarchies, and the monarch is meant to reign above the fray. Convention dictates that Charles cannot make grand pronouncements on international issues without the explicit request or advice of his prime ministers.

“He can’t freelance,” Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, said. “He’s not a politician.”

Monarchs can offer broad support for their governments, analysts said, including through symbolism and pageantry, and royal watchers have been keeping their eyes peeled for subtle signals of support for Canada from Buckingham Palace.

They have speculated about several possible examples.

Charles issued a rare message marking Canada’s flag day in February. Later, he wore Canadian military honours on his uniform while visiting a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, sported a red tie while meeting Carney and planted a maple tree at Buckingham Palace.

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore a red dress and matching hat to a Commonwealth Day event, the headline in a British tabloid was: “Oh Canada? Kate’s statement outfit”.

“There has been a whole series of those kinds of symbolic gestures,” Goodale said. “Probably over the course of the last two months, [there have been] more of those signals about Canada than ever before in any other two-month period in Canadian history.”

Elizabeth became the first monarch to open Canada’s parliament in 1957 in what was her first live televised address. Charles, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, and Camilla last visited Canada in 2022. This will be his first visit as sovereign.

While Charles’ visit has drawn mostly positive reactions, not everyone is thrilled. The federal and provincial pro-sovereignty parties in Quebec condemned Carney for extending an invitation to the King.

The group Citizens for a Canadian Republic welcomed Charles’ visit because it hoped it would provide an opportunity to open the debate on whether Canada should become a republic.

“While the group questions how [Charles’ opening of parliament will] tell the world we’re a sovereign, independent and autonomous nation, strategically, CCR also recognises that the ‘out of sight, out of mind’, low visibility of a non-resident monarchy is a significant factor in Canada’s lack of political motivation to deal with ending its last constitutional ties to Britain,” it said in a statement.

This article first appeared in The Washington Post.

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