The last monarch to deliver a speech from the throne at the opening of a session of Canada’s Parliament was Charles’s mother, Elizabeth, in 1977. She previously did so in 1957. It is normally done by the governor general, the monarch’s representative in Canada. The speech sets out the government’s legislative priorities, an occasion of pomp and circumstance held in the Senate, Canada’s normally sleepy chamber of sober second thought.
Buckingham Palace announced that new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “had an audience of The King via telephone” on Tuesday, a day after he won a minority government. Carney last met the king in March during his brief trip to Europe after he became prime minister but before he called the election.
The visit, in which the King wore a red tie, was one of a number of occasions when the monarch used symbols to show his support for Canadian sovereignty. Starmer, meanwhile, has only reluctantly offered support, apparently out of deference to Donald Trump, who wants to make Canada the 51st state, but the British PM did hail the UK and Canada as the “closest of allies” after Monday’s election.
The Canadian PM’s office did not respond to a query asking if Carney had formally invited the king during their Tuesday call. But sources in both Ottawa and London say there is communication across the pond to that end, although no firm plans have been made.
Starmer, who is desperate to nail down a trade deal with Trump, will want to avoid displeasing Trump, whom he has invited to a second state dinner. The PM’s office might try to stop the king from making the Canadian trip, but it is not clear that would succeed, says Philippe Lagassé, an associate professor at Carleton University whose research focuses on Westminster systems.
“It depends on how strongly the British government wants to press on the sovereign not to go,” Lagassé said. “And the king, as far as we understand, seems keen on making his presence known in Canada. From what we can gather, the little tidbits of information that we’re gathering, this does matter to him. So he would have a say, right?”
Formally, Charles is the king of Canada as well as the United Kingdom, which means Starmer doesn’t quite have a veto on such a trip. “You don’t want it to get to the point of them saying, ‘Look, we are formally giving you advice not to go.’ And he can then say, ‘I have formal advice from my Canadian government that I should go.’”
The king might do more than just read a speech, said Lagassé. “I don’t know if they’ve settled on his $20 bill yet, but if you really wanted to lay it on thick, you could have him do a bunch of stuff, send him to the North, send him to Alberta, have him check out the military.”
A visit by Charles would be seen as a gesture of support for Canadian sovereignty, which is under threat from the Trump government.
