Britain’s King Charles III is soon to travel to Canada on a brief but significant visit in the wake of continued talk by US President Donald Trump about potentially making Canada the 51st state. The 76-year-old king, who is also Canada’s head of state via the Commonwealth, has said nothing regarding Trump’s controversial proposals, despite the US president’s well-documented affection for the British royal family.
Charles, who has been fighting cancer for more than a year, accepted an invitation from Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney to give the “speech from the throne” at the reopening of parliament on May 27. The speech will set the government agenda, a significant role usually played by Canada’s governor general. Queen Camilla will join Charles on the 24-hour trip to Ottawa.
A Buckingham Palace official called the visit “short but hopefully impactful” and pointed to the importance of the event in light of increasing tensions over sovereignty and trade, particularly with Trump’s latest tariff increases and threats to annex Canada. Prime Minister Carney stressed that Charles would deliver the government’s proposals to make the country stronger, and he framed the speech as an “historic honour.
This will be Charles’s 20th time in Canada, but his first since becoming king in September 2022, and Camilla’s sixth time, her first as queen. On the agenda is a community celebration of Canada’s diversity, a sitting down with Carney and Governor General Mary Simon, a ceremonial tree planting at Rideau Hall, and a carriage ride with full military honors to the Senate to hear the throne speech.
The royal visit will end with a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. To aid the king’s health in visiting, a Canadian doctor has been attached, as he undergoes weekly cancer treatment.
The visit is timely as Canada asserts sovereignty in the face of growing US pressures and political gossip.
