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On this side of the world’s longest undefended border, U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated comments about Canada becoming the 51st state have led to outright rejections of the idea as a “non-starter,” spontaneous bursts of national pride and dogged determination to “buy Canadian.”
The comments have also prompted a question from some, who wonder about the role of Canada’s head of state as Trump repeatedly casts his eyes and rhetoric northward:
Why hasn’t King Charles said anything about all this?
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CBC this would be a matter for the Canadian government, on whose advice the King acts. Â
All this gets at the fundamental nature of Canada as a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch is a figurehead and the elected government of the day acts in the monarch’s name.
“If you think of Parliament as being a circle, and you think of the King and what he can do as being a circle, the overlap is actually quite small,” said Justin Vovk, a royal commentator and sessional professor of history at McMaster University in Hamilton.
“That’s by design. That goes back just shy of 400 years, so that the King cannot step into Parliament’s shoes and make laws, direct foreign policy, declare wars when he is not an elected official….
“If you have a situation where you have a King who is calling all the shots, that is despotism, that is tyranny. That raises questions about who is above the law.”
- On today’s episode, Cross Country Checkup is asking: What do you think of Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state? Leave your comment here and we may read it or call you back for the show.
While the government could ask Charles to get involved, there’s no public indication that’s happened.
“I think there are probably several reasons” for that, said Vovk.
“I think No. 1, first and foremost, [is] the fact that our government has repeatedly made it clear [the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state] is a non-starter.”
Vovk says he’s been asked repeatedly by colleagues and others over the past little while about why Charles hasn’t got involved.
“The short answer to that question is it’s not yet a constitutional crisis. So in the event that the Canadian Constitution would be in crisis, that is actually then the sovereign’s role to step in and ensure proper governance is maintained by Parliament.”
There could be another complicating factor: Charles is King of Canada, separate from being King of the United Kingdom, leaving open the potential for different interests to come to the fore.
“What if the government of the United Kingdom and the government of Canada gave the King conflicting advice?” said Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London.
“If the King said something like: ‘Hands off Canada,’ then Trump [might] well seek to respond with tariffs on the U.K., because he wouldn’t make the distinction between King of Canada and King of the United Kingdom.”
Prescott said it would be expected that the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom would resolve among themselves what their response to Trump would be.
Some reports in the U.K. media have suggested plans are in the works for a trip by King Charles and Queen Camilla to the United States and Canada next year.
A palace source told CBC: “There are no current dates in the diary for Their Majesties to tour either Canada or the U.S.A., or active palace planning taking place for either option.”
Charles has yet to visit Canada as King, and scrutiny of any trip would inevitably run to what messages might be sent through the length of time he might spend in either the U.S. or Canada, and which country he visited first or last, and the implications of that.
“There’s no visit to North America in which the King will make both sides of the border happy, at the same time at least,” Vovk said.
Charles hasn’t been totally silent on Canada lately — he did issue a message marking Flag Day last weekend, and the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Maple Leaf.
In his message, Charles said the Maple Leaf flag “has become internationally recognized as a symbol of a proud, resilient and compassionate country.”
“For my own part, it is a symbol that never fails to elicit a sense of pride and admiration, as I recall with the deepest affection my many Canadian visits and friendships.”
Vovk said Charles would likely have sent a message for Flag Day regardless, but this particular message was chosen specifically for the current situation.
“[It’s a] little reminder that ‘I haven’t forgotten about Canada, I’m still aware of what’s going on,’ but nothing that would overstep his mark or his bounds.”
In all this, there is something of a paradox around what a monarch can and cannot — or should or should not — do.
“There is the idea that the monarch is sort of like the ultimate constitutional guardian. If someone does something controversial, they can step in. But if someone’s doing something controversial, then arguably that’s the one time when the monarch shouldn’t step in,” said Prescott.
“What we’ve seen over the past few decades is a sort of sharpening up of the monarchy becoming more political, but not party political,” said Prescott, noting for example the support expressed for the U.K.’s National Health Service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of course, before Charles became King, there was a question around the degree to which he might engage in political meddling, something he said he wouldn’t do as King.
Recent headlines in the U.K. drew attention to a visit Charles made with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner to a housing project in Cornwall.
“It is right that it is unusual to see the King with the prime minister and deputy prime minister on a visit. But I think this is just where politics and monarchy … naturally overlapped,” said Prescott.
Prescott noted that before that visit took place, Charles also met with the U.K. leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, at Buckingham Palace.
“I think that might well have been skilfully done to … pre-rebut, shall we say, any allegations of party favour by meeting with the leader of the opposition before this engagement,” said Prescott.
At this point, it appears unlikely Charles will offer any comment on the 51st state question in the near future.
“I suspect throughout all of this, he will remain silent, and things would have to get much worse in terms of direct efforts to undermine our Constitution for him to actually get involved,” said Vovk.Â
“If he did step in at this point, he would be overstepping his elected government in Ottawa. He would be commenting on Canada’s foreign policy uninvited, likely without the consent of the prime minister, and he would be running the risk of damaging Britain’s relationship with the U.S.
“So it’s kind of a no-brainer for Charles to say nothing.”
Going out of the country — just not to North America
While there is nothing official indicating a royal visit is in the works for Canada or the United States, one European country is on the travel agenda for King Charles and Queen Camilla.
They marked the official confirmation that they would be going to Italy and the Vatican in April by hosting an Italian-themed formal dinner at their Highgrove estate in western England.
Visiting Italy is in keeping with the approach of state visits Charles has made to France and Germany, Prescott said, and the U.K. wanting to be seen to be in Europe, even with its departure from the European Union.
With “the need for Europe to unite in the background of Ukraine and Trump’s approach to Ukraine, then clearly … that high-level diplomacy within Europe has become more important,” he said.
Vovk said he was “a little bit surprised” by the choice of Italy for the visit, but it does align with Charles’s stance as a “defender of faiths, plural.”
Other recent royal overseas travel took Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, to Nepal.
“Nepal is the country that has very close links with the U.K., via the Gurkha Regiment,” said Prescott.
Vovk saw a visit by Royal Family members to Nepal as a potentially strategic move for the U.K. government.Â
“I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say against China, but China has long claimed at the very least Nepal and countries in that sphere of their zone of influence, so sending members of the Royal Family there is a way to show support and solidarity without taking a political stance.”
Wrapping up the Invictus Games
Prince Harry highlighted the importance he sees of adaptive sports as the Invictus Games wrapped up their latest round of competition in British Columbia.
The first winter edition of the sporting event he founded for wounded, injured and sick veterans and service members drew 500 competitors from more than 20 countries to Vancouver and Whistler.
“We absolutely smashed it and I think [there was] a collective sense of relief about the weather gods giving us three beautiful days of sunshine,” Harry said.
As the 10th edition, and first winter edition, of the Invictus Games wrapped up in Vancouver, Prince Harry underscored the importance of the adaptive sport event for military personnel and veterans during a time of ongoing global conflict.
Harry founded the games in 2014, and they have remained a priority for him even as he stepped back from official duties within the Royal Family.
He sees them only growing in relevance given the current state of conflict in the world.
“By the looks of it, there’s always going to be a need and now that we’ve grown to 23 nations, even if you only have five per cent of those competing nations in some form of conflict, then you’re going to keep needing [the] games.”
Vovk says the games gave Harry “a chance to reenter the public or the international spotlight in a way that he hasn’t been in” since the cancer diagnosis of his father, King Charles, last year.
Harry’s wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attended for the first few days of the games, and Vovk saw the event as offering an opportunity for them to rebrand themselves.
“It seems like they’re using some momentum from this to start carrying them forward in new ventures that seem to be legitimately focused on philanthropy,” said Vovk.
Meghan has also announced a new name for her lifestyle brand, replacing American Riviera Orchard with “As Ever.”
The debut of Meghan’s Netflix lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, was delayed by the California wildfires in January, but it is due to start streaming on March 4.
Royally quotable
“I’m full of admiration for what they try to do there.”
— King Charles, speaking about surgeons working to save injured soldiers and civilians in Ukraine. Charles made the comment during a visit to the Centre for Injury Studies at Imperial College London.
Royal reads
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Catherine, Princess of Wales, visited a women’s prison in Cheshire, where she talked to inmates in a mother and baby unit and was shown a project designed to develop strong and healthy relationships between mothers and babies. On such visits, there has often been media attention focused on what Catherine is wearing, and it was clarified by Kensington Palace aides on the same day as the visit that there is no change in the policy of sharing details of her clothing. Previous reports had suggested such information would no longer be shared. [BBC]
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Lawyers for an aide to Prince Andrew are fighting to prevent the release of a statement he made in support of a man accused of being a Chinese spy who became a trusted business partner of the prince. [The Guardian]
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Catherine and her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, have revealed their artistic skills in four portraits of each other. [BBC]
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The U.K. government is to face questions about Prince Andrew and other members of the Royal Family’s use of public money after talks to overcome restrictions on scrutinising the monarchy in parliament. [The Guardian]
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