King Charles was widely seen as delivering a warning shot to US president Donald Trump after his verbal attacks on Canada by delivering a speech at the start of new session of the Canadian Parliament – and royal expert Jennie Bond believes one move by the King made the impact of the message to Trump even greater
King Charles’ unusual move on his trip to Canada made his warning shot to Donald Trump over Canada even greater, a royal expert has claimed. On a whistlestop tour to Canada that lasted less than 48 hours, the King made his first trip to the country as monarch to attend the state opening of parliament.
The King’s trip to Canada, one of the 14 realms where he is head of state, comes in the wake of prolonged aggression from Trump who, amid a global trade war, has claimed the country should become the 51st state of America. Canadians reacted with horror over the outlandish suggestion, with new prime minister Mark Carney insisting during a tense meeting in the Oval Office that his country would “never ever” be for sale.
And during the historic address, written by the Canadian government, to parliament yesterday, the King spoke of Canada being “strong and free”, which garnered huge applause. And for former BBC royal correspondent, Jennie Bond, said the fact that it was decided that Charles would only be making a very short trip to Canada alongside Queen Camilla made it even more impactful.
She told the Mirror : “It might have been the whistlestop tour to end all whistlestop tours, but the fact that it lasted barely 48 hours may well have made its impact even greater. For the King to fly across the Atlantic, essentially to deliver one short speech to Parliament, demonstrated a powerful commitment to Canada – and its fight against President Trump.
“It was soft power at its most potent and it wasn’t lost on the Canadian public and press who called it ‘a masterclass’. It was also hailed as an ‘expression of love’ for Canada and a warning shot to Mr Trump. Without mentioning the American president, King Charles responded to Mr Trump‘s threat of annexation by declaring the country of which he is very much the head of state to be ‘strong and free’.
“The speech is, of course, largely written by the Canadian government, but to have the King there in person delivering these words of defiance carried a great deal of regal clout, which will not have gone unnoticed in Washington.
“I think the King will be quite chuffed by the enthusiastic response to his visit— and he probably had quite a giggle over a cartoon joking that Donald Trump had now imposed a 1000 per cent biscuit tariff on Duchy Originals from Charles’s estate at Highgrove.”
Before attending the parliament, both Charles and Camilla received a rapturous reception with huge crowds clamouring to catch a glimpse of them and Jennie added: “The King and Queen were given an extremely warm welcome by huge crowds in Ottawa and there will have been a real appreciation that a man who is still undergoing weekly cancer treatment so readily heeded the Canadian Prime Minister’s call to arms.”
However, Charles’ task in Canada was not an easy one as he had to balance his head of state job in the country with his role in Keir Starmer’s attempt at maintaining strong relations between the UK and the US.
The King is expected to host Trump for an unprecedented second state visit to the UK after Mr Starmer handed the President an invitation letter from Charles at the White House in February, which could prove to be tricky.
But Jennie explained: “Later in the year, of course, the King is likely to be hosting a visit from the American president and you might think that would be quite awkward. But the King is perfectly capable of delivering another masterclass in diplomacy – because that’s his job.”
