King travels to support Canada as it fends off Trump

19 minutes ago Share Save Sean Coughlan Royal correspondent Reporting from Ottawa Share Save

Watch: Why King Charles III’s trip to Canada is more than just a royal visit

King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive in Canada later, for a two-day visit seen as bringing a message of support for the country in the face of threats and taunts from US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who recently won a general election on a wave of anti-Trump sentiment, invited the royal couple and will hold a meeting with them during their stay in Ottawa. The King will read the “Speech from the Throne” to Canada’s Parliament on Tuesday, the first time a monarch has delivered this for almost 50 years. It is expected to include a defence of Canada’s sovereignty and to reject claims it should be taken over by the US.

There will be a ceremonial welcome at the airport in Ottawa on Monday and meetings with community groups, which is expected to include representatives of Canada’s First Nation communities. The King will meet Canada’s first indigenous Governor General Mary Simon. This is the King and Queen’s first visit to Canada since the start of their reign, after a planned trip last year was cancelled because of the Charles’ cancer diagnosis. By reading the Speech from the Throne the King is following in the footsteps of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who carried out the duty twice during her long reign in 1957 and 1977. But the timing of this week’s visit has been seen as a sign of solidarity with Canada, after calls from Trump for the country to become the 51st US state. The US threat has inflamed public opinion with some businesses in Ottawa, as elsewhere in Canada, putting on displays of national identity such as “Proudly Canadian” posters. Carney, when he visited Trump at the White House earlier this month, stressed that Canada was “not for sale” and that message is likely to be conveyed in the King’s speech which is written on the advice of Canada’s government.

Reuters Mark Carney won an election campaign promising to stand up to the US president