When Charles III came to the throne in September 2022, some commentators warned he would seek to ‘meddle’ and ‘cross constitutional red lines’. These critics had failed to realise that after 73 years of preparation, he had a far sharper grasp of the new constraints on him as sovereign. As a result we have had barely a batsqueak of complaint on that score.
But now a different constitutional challenge looms, one we have not really seen since the 1980s. And it will certainly require deft handling on his part.
For in a week’s time, he will head for the airport as King of the United Kingdom, acting as ever on the advice of Sir Keir Starmer – up to the moment that he gets out of the car. Once he climbs those steps to the aircraft despatched by the Canadian government to collect him, he will be acting on the advice of Mark Carney, his Canadian Prime Minister.
And it’s fair to say that these two advisors are not in agreement. Just this week, Mr Carney said publicly that Canadians were ‘not impressed’ by the British government’s invitation to Donald Trump to pay a state visit, with the full royal package at Windsor Castle.
Eminent Canadians have been calling for the King to make a robust statement on the sanctity of Canadian sovereignty. One of the monarch’s governments wants to play hardball with Mr Trump and the other wants to play nicey-nicey. So where does that leave the King, caught in the middle?
Perhaps the first thing both sets of ministers should do is manage expectations. Monarchs do not speak out, even when the US really does invade one of their realms – as when Ronald Reagan invaded Grenada in 1983 without even forewarning the Queen of Grenada. Monarchs deal in show, not tell. The King can show that he is a proud and conscientious Canadian head of state and leave the megaphone diplomacy to the politicians.
If he were to start voicing personal thoughts, then he would clearly be straying beyond his constitutional remit.
Yet the signals are there for those who care to look. And it’s about much more than wearing Canadian decorations on his uniforms. In the weeks since Mr Trump has started making bellicose noises over his northern border, the King has welcomed two Canadian PMs to his home, met a delegation from the Canadian Senate and given Canada’s Black Rod a new sword. When a forestry initiative required the King to plant a tree – any tree – he planted a maple. In February he dispatched a Flag Day message to the people of Canada. There was no such message the previous year.
King Charles III during an audience with Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, at Buckingham Palace on March 17, 2025
Eminent Canadians have been calling for the King to make a robust statement on the sanctity of Canadian sovereignty when he opens their parliament on May 27, following repeated remarks by US president Donald Trump (pictured) about Canada becoming the 51st state
King Charles’ mother Queen Elizabeth reading the Throne Speech in the Senate Chamber of the Canadian Parliament during her Silver Jubilee Tour on October 18, 1977 – the last monarch to have the honour
According to Robert Hardman: ‘Monarchs do not speak out, even when the US really does invade one of their realms – as when Ronald Reagan invaded Grenada in 1983 without even forewarning the Queen of Grenada.’ Pictured: United States Marines pull out of Grenada as children wave at them
Rewind his keynote speeches from his state visit to Italy and observe how many times he mentioned his pride in the role of ‘British and Canadian’ troops during the Second World War. None of this is lost on hawk-eyed diplomats but it does not make headlines.
In her 70 years as monarch, Elizabeth II only opened the Canadian Parliament once, in 1957. She also delivered a ‘speech from the throne’ in 1977. So, there is a precedent but it is a very rare event.
The late Queen would gladly have done more had Canada invited her – she opened New Zealand’s Parliament seven times – but Canada has been happy to leave such occasions to a home-grown Canadian, the Governor-General.
So the mere fact that the King is going is a big deal in itself. Though a brand new politician, I suspect Mr Carney is too shrewd an operator to ask the King to say or do anything embarrassing. Besides, having dealt with Commonwealth politicians for longer than most of today’s lot have been alive, Charles knows exactly where to draw the line.
As the author of the King’s new biography, Charles III, I have no doubt that there will be scheming in the wings. There was plenty of that as far back as 1964 when Quebec separatists threatened a campaign of violence against a tour by the Queen. The British PM Sir Alec Douglas-Home even asked the Cabinet Secretary if he was constitutionally empowered to overrule the Canadian PM’s invitation. No one was sure so she went anyway.
A later Canadian PM, Pierre Trudeau, was often at odds with No 10 over the monarch. Ted Heath ordered her not to attend the 1971 Commonwealth summit in Singapore and tried to stop her going to the next one in Ottawa. So Trudeau and the (Canadian) Commonwealth secretary-general invited her as Queen of Canada.
And in 1982 when Trudeau wanted to sever the last constitutional tie between Britain and Canada – against Mrs Thatcher’s wishes – he asked the Queen to fly over to sign the document.
Yet the underlying conundrum is still there: what happens when two PMs give the same monarch conflicting advice? If anyone can walk that tightrope, it is the man who wears the British Crown, the Canadian Crown – and 13 others.
