Here are some photos of King Charles and Queen Camilla in Ottawa on Monday, which was Memorial Day here in the US. C&C traveled on Monday and then did a handful of quick events and meetings, most of which were organized by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office. Today, Charles will open Canada’s Parliament and deliver a speech mostly written by Carney’s people. The whole purpose of the trip is not only to strengthen Canada’s ties with the Crown, but to “send a message” to Canada’s basement meth lab, the United States. Donald Trump has spent months provoking Canadians and saying outright that Canada should be the US’s 51st state. Well, Buckingham Palace gave Becky English a lengthy briefing on the messages behind Charles’s visit.
Today’s visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla to Ottawa will ‘reinforce the power and the strength of the message’ to Donald Trump that ‘Canada is not for sale’….Not that you would have seen or heard anything other than a polite and interested smile from the King on the matter. As a constitutional monarch he is not permitted to wade in on such issues, of course.
And that has very much placed Buckingham Palace on a diplomatic high-wire in recent months, particularly given the British Government’s desire – no, need – for the King to pour oil on potentially choppy waters between Britain and the US given his genuinely ‘warm’ personal relationship with President Trump. But, royal sources stress to me, Charles has been able to show his support in other, more subtle ways. He has recently opened the doors of his home to two Canadian prime ministers, met a delegation from the Canadian senate and ceremonially handed over a new sword to Canada’s Black Rod. In February (and this is a gesture very much emphasised by those in the know) he sent a Flag Day message to the people of Canada, which was repeated on Buckingham Palace’s social media channels. Put it this way, no such message was released last year.
While this may seem like small beef to some, the significance is not lost on diplomats either side of the Atlantic. But there is no doubt that the King’s arrival in the Canadian capital today – his first as head of state – to undertake the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday is ramping the messaging up by a decibel or two. He will become only the second monarch – after Queen Elizabeth II – to attend the State Opening and deliver the speech setting out his Government’s legislative agenda.
‘No-one should underestimate the significance of this,’ a well-placed source emphasises. [The king] is, I am assured, ‘hugely’ looking forward to stepping on Canadian soil once again (19 times previously as Prince of Wales). And while his visit may seem short – involving little more than 24 hours in the country – he is packing as much into it as possible, including several ‘public moments’ giving him the ability to meet as many Canadians as possible.
Significantly, I can reveal, he is also considering another trip to the country in the ‘near to mid-future’. There is nothing in the diary yet, but it is something very much on the King’s mind. ‘Yes it’s challenging, less than 36 hours door to door, but although it feels very short and intense, that’s actually the best way to handle it,’ a well-placed source tells me. ‘The King and Queen will hit the ground running, cram in as much as they possibly can, all without even noticing the time difference. And the team will have him back in the UK for his regular scheduled [cancer] treatment as usual. He had planned to go for a far lengthier visit last year but of course his diagnosis scuppered that, and then the Canadian electoral cycle. But this [short visit] does not preclude the possibility of a longer royal tour of Canada in due course. There’s nothing in the diary yet, but it’s being looked at.’
There are a lot of unnamed political and royal operatives gassing up Charles, and I would imagine that this is the cost of doing business with the monarchy. Sure, Charles and Camilla will visit one of their “realms,” but you have to tell everyone that they are literally god’s gift and the most important soft-power diplomats ever. I love how the palace won’t even give a hard confirmation that Charles will ever return to Canada too – “we’re looking at the diary” is palace-speak for “it won’t happen.” It’s funny that the royal who has spent the most time in Canada in the past five years is… Prince Harry.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
All it would take is Trump to starting tweeting out crazy about Charles on this trip and the palace would start to spin out – that’s how much of a house of cards it all is. They can only go so hard against Trump as they also want to cozy up to him.
Yeah, I get that Trump gets wowed by the trappings of the monarchy, but at the same time, that only goes so far imo. He’s an increasingly old fickle man with a giant ego. Isn’t there already a planned state visit for him in the uk? Is there one planned for Canada too? Maybe all he wants is a parade idk. Just saying he will still humiliate those who pander to him.
You’re so right about the Orange one tweeting and saying, he is not accepting Chucky invite for a State visit or torpedoing the deal he just sign with PM.
Alas the Orange clown likes the pomp and pageantry.
I too love that they keep shouting how the royal soft diplomacy is soooo influential. Most of the time I don’t know if it makes a difference. Not to mention how often they step on their own dicks focusing on their soap opera plots while doing said diplomacy.
While I don’t support the use of our tax dollars on the royal family, if this visit gets the desired effect on Trump, I’m here for it!!!
We pay approx. $1.55 per person in Canada and that money does NOT go to the Monarchy, it goes to the Governor General and Lieutenant Governor. In no way does any money go to Britain or the Royal Family.
Whether it goes to them directly or indirectly I don’t care. It’s taxpayer money funding the royals and their activities related to Canada and money that can be used for more worthwhile endeavours such as healthcare. The royals do not pay a penny out of pocket for any of their trips here. Show me otherwise.
Charles has no diplomacy when it comes to his own family.
Charles already clearly send a message when he invited Trump, who was in the midst of trying to annex Canada, for a unprecedented second state visit.
Anything he does in Canada now is damage control.
I don’t think Charles had a choice – from what I remember that was at the behest of the British Government. And when he welcomed Trump, from what I remember, he wore a Canadian Military uniform. Again, I’m not defending the monarchy here, I cannot stand the institution, but in this case, I don’t blame him
@Inge: Exactly.
Starmer directed him to write that letter so that he could give it to orange man during his visit. He greatly miscalculated that especially when orange man started talking about taking over Greenland and annexing Canada, but Charles would not have prepared that letter on his own.
So, I actually think this is a very smart thing to do and I have actually wanted King Charles to do this for a while. Leaving aside my views on the UK’s connection to Canada and monarchy in general, from a pure personality driven political move, this is smart. Trump wants approval- he’s a bully who has so much resentment from not being “in” with the cool kids as it were in NY. His whole personality is strongman who is actually weak and craves praise. This provides Trump with an out, a “favor” to King Charles who he is in awe of because of the allure of monarchy. Trump loves power and loves powerful people. No weak, messy democracy for him- he admires dictators. And while the British may try to class it up to hide the reality- monarchy is the ULTIMATE dictator-model. If Trump can give up on harassing and attacking Canada as a favor to Charles, I am for it. And this would allow him to do it.
Charles is a dogshit father. But I am impressed that this obviously sick and frail old man hit the ground running, doing several engagements yesterday and opening parliament today before going home. My mother couldn’t have managed all that at his age even before she became ill. Kate and Bulliam would have landed and spent the afternoon recovering from the trip in the hotel spa or on the sofa in front of the tv for the rest of the day. Royal work ethic dies with Charles’ generation.
Where is peggs. He could not be bothered to help but he is a hindrance since he is flattered by trump
I doubt William would have wanted Kate with him should he have gone to canada
Kinda hilarious 😂 that two septuagenarians were described as “will hit the ground running.” I do hope no bones were broken!
Got to say one thing for Charles, he does his job, unlike his elder son. Pity William was born first.
I live in Toronto and there is no coverage about this here whatsoever. No one cares about them.
So I’m from Calgary (I know, I know, Alberta is a whole other chaotic kettle of fish) and now living abroad, and I have to say that everyone I have spoken to back home are happy about this visit. Not that they care about the Monarchy, but they do care about Trump’s threats. And they know how Trump feels about Royalty, so this can have the desired effect. Much like them, I am not a fan of monarchy, but I am happy Charles did this, and considering his age and illness, I am impressed at all that he was able to get done before going back. Like some of the posters have said above, the Royal work ethic dies with his generation.
Are you sure you read the papers? Or live in Toronto? It’s been extensively covered in the Star (favourably!), the Globe, Post, CBC….
It was carried live on CBC News Network, CTV Newschannel, and then covered at the top of every Canadian news media like CP 24, City News, The National and CTV News on the main network.
That doesn’t include all the Canadian news sites online.
It’s been covered extensively in many papers including our own Times Colonist on Vancouver Island, it’s on every news network, it’s even getting mentions on CNN and other American news networks.
And Canadians DO care about this. To insinuate that “nobody cares about it” is ridiculous. This is not a royal tour, it’s an important historic event for Canada and a slap across the face to Trump and his cadre of boot-lickers. Much as I dislike Charles as a person and am firmly anti-monarchy, this is a great tactical move.
100%
I live in Quebec and the respectable french language newpaper LaPresse is wrinting about it with that exact angle. The Google translation is :
“This first visit as monarch aims to assert Canadian sovereignty in the face of threats from American President Donald Trump.”
This is more of a victory lap as Trump already backed down after Carney’s visit. But it’s nice to dust off the symbolism – that’s Charles’ job after all.
Trump as recently as this past week-end was still talking about Canada being a terrible country. He isn’t backing off, he’s just got other fish to fry – well burn to a crisp – right now. Carney et al are not sitting back going ‘job done’. We all know the Deranged One is one tweet away from making more threats.
Trump can say it’s a terrible country, but he came out of his meeting with Carney with all new rhetoric about “it takes two to tango.” He might bring it up again, because he’s a babbling jackass, but he knows it’s not feasible.
That’s my vibe. Carney did what he needed to do and did it well. Charles ate this point is at best icing. The Canadian PM got it done without Charles being hugely necessary imo.
I would be shocked if Trump knew that Canada is connected to King Charles.
When the UK PM was visiting and in the Oval Office, a reporter asked both men if they had discussed Trump’s desire to annex Canada since it is a commonwealth country and under the rule of King Charles.
The PM moved the question along – this was when he was trying to pave way for America to not abandon the EU or Ukraine- but 47 looked very confused and surprised. I don’t believe he had any idea of the global context of Canadians connections.
The message is mixed at best. Charles has invited the Mad King to the UK for a second state visit at the behest of the British government which, for some reason, is trying to mollify the MK. Meanwhile, his presence in Canada for a day is supposed to be a warning to the MK that Canada will take no 💩 from the meth lab in its basement. But this MK is not nearly smart enough to decipher all this diplomatic code even if it made some sense. He will just continue to do as he pleases when he pleases and pay no attention to all the mixed messages. Because he’s MAD which is the part no one seems to get.
i love this analogy
The PM got the King to invite Trump to Britain before he realised Trump’s ambitions. After all, it does sound like some kind of a joke.
Trump is an arrogant asshole, first and foremost, and the visit by KC to open Parliament and show solidarity with Canada must chap his butt. He’ll be bitching and moaning all over Truth Social about it. This visit has brought Canadians together whether they’re for or against a monarchy because despite many Americans thinking otherwise, we’re not just a bunch of polite, hockey-loving doofuses in toques and flannel shirts, and we won’t let some lunatic sociopath in orange makeup push us around. Elbows up!
He’s been posting that Canada is considering becoming a 51st state for free access to his Golden Dome program.
I find the nickname Mad King to be possibly foreshadowing. The United States became the United States after winning a war against Britain’s “mad king” (George III). It’s depressingly poetic that the US may end in disaster thanks to our own homebred mad king.
What a waste of resources to travel all the way to Canada and back for less than 24hrs. That is even worse than Cheeto Mussolini taking AF1 to golf every weekend.
No it is not. Felon 47 going golfing is NOTHING like King Charles flying to Canada for a long or short time. Stop with trying to make them the same. Golfing is not work. What Charles is doing is working. Working on behalf of Canada. Whether it helps or not and Cheeto backs down, we’ll soon see. Nevertheless, comparing the king’s trip to Canada to Trumf’s golf weekends is just rude.
Reading a speech isn’t work either, and taking two trans-Atlantic flights in one day with however many support staff just to read it from a different chair is wasting millions of dollars, not to mention the environmental impacts, and I don’t care if it’s rude to point that out. And if you still think Donald is worse, let me remind you that he still speaks to all of his children and grandchildren!
This has absolutely NOTHING to do with travel to Canada and back or whether or not he speaks to his children and grandchildren. We are a major part of the commonwealth and visits from the royal family don’t happen by ocean liner anymore (they are far more polluting than flights BTW). This is EVERYTHING to do with solidarity against a monster whose administration and FAMILY are bleeding America dry while enriching themselves by decimating health care, education and support for the underprivileged, veterans, seniors. Oh, and Trump’s golfing every weekend has cost Americans approximately $26 million in only 4 months.
It’s not rude to voice your opinion, although it is baseless.
Well said! Not everything is about Harry and Meghan!
Right, I’m sure Bonny King Charles will serve Cheeto a mouthful of that “solidarity” just as soon as he arrives at his unprecedented second state visit! (As if Trump even has any idea that this $$$ speech ever happened 🙄) ( just to be clear, they are both horrible humans)
I’m at a loss to understand what those of you diminishing this were expecting. I have a feeling most of you would also have been sneering if Charles had chosen not to come. I am no fan of Charles but here, in this instance, he did the right thing for the right reasons. And it is not the speech that Trump will ever hear or care about, it’s the statement that is being made that Canada is not alone, we are part of the Commonwealth and Trump can just piss the hell off.
@FancyPants — First, it’s Bonnie Prince Charlie, grandson of James VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1766 as Charles III. Charles will NOT give Cheeto a mouthful of solidarity because the United States fought against England in the war of 1812 until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Congress on 17 February 1815. Other than being trading partners and allies during the 1st and 2nd world wars, they have nothing but a diplomatic relationship. History lesson over.
Second, just to be clear, as much as we can all agree that Charles is an abhorrent person he is OUR head of state and if you’d taken the time to watch or read his opening of Parliament speech you’d know that he is firmly on Canada’s side in Trump’s childish, petulant, arrogant and completely misguided insults to Canada, our Prime Minister and our people. Stuff it.
Jaded – awesome post. Well said and thank you!
Am I crazy or was it recently reported that Charles was refusing chemo? So what “cancer treatments” necessitate him back in the UK so quickly?
And I’m wondering if “poor flyer” Camilla will take the RF private jet to India for some relaxation after such a grueling tour – after all, she’s already halfway there by RF logic – while Charles is flown back by the Royal Canadian Air Force. Maybe she can stop by and visit Harry and Meghan on the way /s
I’ve thought from the beginning that Charles The Cruel likely has prostate cancer.
If he does, chemo is often not the first choice of treatment. Instead, radiation therapy, either with implanted “seeds” or external localized treatments, is a good option.
The weekly treatments he is said to have could be externally applied radiation, or they could be some type of naturopathic or other supportive treatment to mitigate the effects of radiation.
Or, since he’s long supported homeopathy, it could easily be that.
We don’t know if he’s refusing chemo, that was just a rumour. He may be using alternate forms of therapy as @IdlesAtCranky mentions, like immunotherapy for instance, but that hasn’t proven as successful as chemo and adjuvant radiation. I’ve been on chemo for 8 months now and it has controlled my cancer well, but there’s one stubborn spot in my lung that won’t budge so I’m getting a week of radiation to blast it to the hell it deserves.
My dad has had two forms of cancer in the last two year – no sooner beat one than the other showed up. Anyway given his age (he is in his 80s) they didn’t recommend chemo but there were other treatments that they used which were effective. I don’t know what form of cancer Charles has but it could be that chemo was one option of many and the decision was taken to try other treatments given his age. On the other hand he could well have turned down chemo because he’s the type who would rather go the laetrielle type route. In which case Work Shy Willy will be king sooner rather than later.
I do underestimate it. They think a dignified, power answer to Trump is to wheel out these two reprobates with their ludicrous titles? Have some self respect.
Canada has its own laws and constitution. It’s signalling that Trump and the USA cannot break those laws since Canada has its own head of state, which happens to be Charles ( it is what it is, at least from a legal standpoint). Charles can open parliament if he’s asked to do so — also signaling a legal message. I think it’s as much about the legality of Canada’s own constitution as it could be about Trump crying he wants to be king ( though I think it’s more the former than the latter).
You don’t seem to understand that our Canadian constitution is carved in stone, and anyone who threatens it and our sovereignty is tilting at windmills. Trump doesn’t do “power answers”, he blusters and bloviates and talks utter bullshit to intimidate everyone who disagrees with him. He’s a classic malignant and malevolent narcissist who’s too stupid to realize he’s being outmanoeuvred by diplomacy. You must be a card-carrying MAGA to make statements like this — and DON’T tell us to have some self respect, we have it in spades and we’re showing Trump we do.
Elbows up! We’ve been standing up to the Deranged One for months now. And we’re never backing down.
You are hitting it out of the freaking park with your posts on this topic. Bravo, bravo, bravo. This isn’t about Royal family dynamics, is nothing like Trump’s golf trips in terms of taxpayer cost and is so damn important. Even people I know (including myself) who aren’t exactly in love with the Royal Family, to put it mildly, understand the importance of this visit and think Charles did a great job with his speech. This is about our sovereignty, is so damn timely and far more important than most seem to Americans realize. Also, the people claiming to be Canadian and say nobody cares are either completely shut off from Canadian media or lying.
The short length of this trip illustrates that this was hurried arranged and was done to pacify the Canadian population that was upset that the King was kow towing to Donald Trump instead of showing his allegiance to Canada. All those activities regarding Canada that Charles did happened after Keir Starmer embarrassed himself by inviting Trump for a second state visit.
Please go read the comments from other Canadian CB’ers. This is truly an incorrect take.
These things are never “hurriedly arranged”, Carney and Charles go way back to his Bank of England days, and I imagine the trip had been in the works ever since Carney threw his hat into the Prime Ministerial ring. The brevity of the trip is because it’s not a royal tour, it’s for one very important event — opening our Parliament. Furthermore, Charles was NEVER kowtowing to Trump, he does what he’s supposed to do — soft diplomacy. Neither was it done to “pacify” the Canadian population, it was done to bring us all together in solidarity against the tyrannical Trump regime who seem hellbent on demeaning Canada as the 51st state.
I don’t think Americans posting that Charles is the same as Trump understand just how little power Charles has in a constitutional monarchy. Charles is not passing laws of any kind in Canada or Australia and he is more of a symbol than anything else.
Does it cost money to fly him over here? Yes, but he has only been here 20 times his entire life. How much money is orange turd blowing in less than 8 years? Plus the lifetime secret service? The amount of power that has been granted to a U.S. president is far more than a king in a constitutional monarchy and while most of them haven’t abused it, the current guy, who already showed he was an idiot last time, was put in that position again.
Thank you @Nic919. As an example, the Orange Turd has blown close to $30 million on his weekend golf games. In only 4 months.
Canada generally doesn’t ask a King or Queen to come over and open Parliament, even though the option is there. It’s been a long time since this has happened. In that sense, his visit is significant.
The Governor General exists as the King’s figurehead. If you want to prorogue Parliament, you ask the Governor General who isn’t going to say no. For Canada to ask Charles to come over for a parliamentary session does signal a significant message of some kind. Whether Trump is smart enough to understand the underlying message is a different story. Not every message is necessarily literal but there is an expectation for a message to be understood. But Trump is dumb. So who knows whether anything registers in his thick skull.
It annoyed the US ambassador, who is an ass on his best days. They know. He’s also big mad about the ‘banning’ of American goods by ‘the government.’ Nah, dude, we decided not to buy American goods all by ourselves. Canadians are great at holding grudges.
Yes, Trudeau was very visibly boycotting US sneakers in favor of green Adidas Gazelles with orange stripes to a blue suit just now at the opening event.
While he’s always had a quirky sense of dressing, this was… a bit dorky. It’s not like Adidas doesn’t make them in different colors that go a little better with that beautiful blue suit. But retirement is looking good on JT.
On the Flag Day message: “hint, this wasn’t done last year”
This year was the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Maple Leaf in 1965. So no, one wouldn’t have been expected to deliver any kind of formal acknowledgement. Milestone anniversaries are given more attention.
That said, they are all clearly trying to mobilize whatever symbolic capital Charles may have vís-a-vís Trump and within Canada. As much as we are facing a threat from below the 49th parallel, we are also staring down a national unity crisis manufactured by the Maple MAGAs in my home province. Dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, even in Alberta, can be swayed by appeals to monarchy and tradition.