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CBC
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Throne speech was an 'emotional moment' for the King, Buckingham Palace says
Social Sharing Some observant royal watchers thought King Charles looked emotional at times throughout his trip to Canada last week — and a Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirms to CBC News that the normally stoic monarch found delivering the throne speech to be a particularly poignant moment. "His Majesty was deeply moved and touched by the enthusiastic response to his visit," the palace spokesperson said. "On the speech, the standing ovation in particular was an unexpected and emotional moment for His Majesty. You can hear his voice go a bit crackly in the final lines." Footage shows Charles looking pleased by the warm reception he received as the assembled dignitaries rose to applaud him and his speech. Charles's line about Canada "indeed" being the Truth North "strong and free" was particularly well received in the Senate chamber. There was no act of protest like when an Australian Indigenous senator shouted at the King in Parliament during his visit to that realm last year. WATCH | King Charles gets a standing ovation in Parliament: 'The True North is, indeed, strong and free,' says King Charles in throne speech 7 days ago Duration 1:32 His voice then wavered and his eyes appeared to well up as he said the final line to the gathered parliamentarians: "May you honour the profound trust bestowed upon you by Canadians, and may God bless and guide you in all your duties." Charles also seemed to tear up outside the Senate building as thousands of people watched him arrive in the royal landau and inspect the military honour guard while the Royal Canadian Air Force band played O Canada. After the speech, he cheerfully greeted many of the onlookers and there were no obvious signs of protest. "It was the warmest of welcomes and the fondest of returns to a nation and a people we love," Charles and Queen Camilla themselves said in a joint statement released after they left Ottawa. WATCH | The royal parade to Parliament: King Charles and Queen Camilla parade to Parliament 7 days ago Duration 2:35 The U.K. press took note of Charles's unusual display of emotion on this trip — his 20th official visit to Canada and his first as monarch. "Royals don't normally 'do' emotion, at least they do their very best to hide whatever feeling they have. But for some reason, King Charles seemed unable to do that on this occasion at the end of a short, but highly significant, visit," ITV's royal correspondent Chris Ship wrote in his coverage of the speech. In an interview with CBC News, Justin Vovk, a royal historian at McMaster University, said there was "more emotion than we've come to expect from members of the royal family." "I think Charles was taken aback somewhat. The King had been itching to get here and eager to make his presence felt in Canada but no one really knew what kind of reaction he would receive," Vovk said. "Journalists, academics, royalists, we were all watching and wondering: would there be a tepid turnout? Would there be protests? And I think once Charles saw the level of reaction from the people, it floored him; it seems he wasn't expecting it." The emotion may also have been driven by just how high-stakes the visit was for him and the country, Vovk said. In the face of American taunts and insults, Prime Minister Mark Carney pressed Charles into service, asking the head of state to assert Canada's sovereignty in the first throne speech delivered by a monarch in nearly 50 years. It was a diplomatic balancing act because Charles, as the sovereign of 15 realms, had to fulfil his duties as King of Canada without torpedoing Anglo-American relations given there's a sometimes mercurial president in the Oval Office and the U.K. is also facing trade threats. "Opening Parliament, reading the speech from the throne, these are the most significant constitutional roles that the sovereign plays in our political system," Vovk said. "He understood the weight of it politically, personally and dynastically," he said. Plus, Vovk said, for Charles, "Canada has deep meaning for him and deep meaning for his family." The King's favoured relative, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and his own mother, Queen Elizabeth, made dozens of trips to Canada and wrote and spoke fondly about their experiences. Those sentiments have seemingly rubbed off on him, Vovk said. The Queen Mother, writing to Princess Margaret in 1958, said: "I have a feeling that Canada gives one a boost. They are so nice and so loving and the Mounties are so beautiful and so romantic." Looking back at her historic 1939 tour with King George VI on the eve of the Second World War — the first time a reigning monarch had been in North America — the Queen Mother said: "Canada made us." Queen Elizabeth, who personally witnessed seminal moments in the nation's history including the repatriation of the Constitution, described Canada as "home." "Charles is acutely aware that he and his family have had a presence in Canada at crucial moments. This is one of those moments," Vovk said. "He delivered, very deliberately, slogan-worthy, quotable lines — the True North, strong and free, Canada seeping into his bloodstream and straight to the heart. Those will be phrases associated with the monarchy in Canada for a very long time," he said. As for whether Charles's ongoing cancer battle may have played into his emotional reaction, Vovk said it's hard to say. "It's impossible to speculate on what goes on behind the curtain with the sovereign," he said.
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
CTV QP: PM Carney inviting 'high expectations': Scott Reid
Political strategists weigh in on the key takeaways from the throne speech and PM Mark Carney's approach to governing.
4 days ago
- Business
Conrad Black: Carney continues on a path of mindless globalism
It was a gracious gesture for King Charles III and Queen Camilla to come to Ottawa for 24 hours to open Parliament and symbolize Canada's close relations with the United Kingdom and other senior Commonwealth nations, but the speech from the throne was so general, we might have reserved the distinction of Their Majesties' presence for a more substantive policymaking occasion. There was a pledge to make housing more affordable many years after what should have been the starting date for such a policy before millions of otherwise welcome immigrants were admitted to the country, furthering an acute housing shortage among Canadians of modest income. It was also good to hear the King state, on behalf of the federal government, the determination to protect and advance the rights of all Canadians. It would have been useful and pleasing to know if this included a departure from the federal government's policy of passivity toward Quebec's suppression of the English language in that province. Article content Article content One specific point in the throne speech that was particularly welcome was the reference to the federal government's determination to eliminate internal trade barriers. If anything useful may ultimately be judged to have come from the current controversy with the United States, it is that U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted the exorbitant cost of some agricultural products as a result of the supplementary payments consumers are forced to make to certain farmers in this country. As I have written here often before, if it is considered public policy to supplement the incomes of these farmers, it should be done directly and not by overcharging the entire Canadian public for important categories of food. In the same category is the government's implicit promise to contribute more to our own national defence. This has long and justifiably been a sore point with the United States, which effectively has guaranteed Canada's national security since President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared at Queens university in 1938 that he would not 'stand idly by' if Canada were attacked. Canada has a distinguished military history of only going to war for good causes and never out of national greed, fighting bravely and almost always with volunteers and always on the winning side. We are not freeloaders, but we have been freeloaders in NATO for 30 years and there appears to be a consensus that this should stop. Article content Article content The King's remarks began with the now practically obligatory reference to being on land 'unceded' by Algonquin and Anishinaabeg peoples — an experience, the King advised, that reminds us of our 'shared history as a nation.' The King has thus been delicately dragooned into the quagmire of the official relationship of Canada with its Indigenous peoples. The federal Parliament may indeed stand on land unceded by the Algonquins and Anishinaabeg, but this should not be allowed to imply that Canada, prior to the arrival of the British and the French in the 16th and 17th centuries, was populated and occupied, in the sense of being ruled and governed, by the Native peoples. Article content Article content The Native peoples were in almost all cases nomadic and relatively sparse in numbers. The inference has been incited that those who have immigrated, mainly from Europe to Canada, over the last 450 years invaded someone else's country. I yield to few in my desire to make the country's policy toward Indigenous peoples more just and productive, but when the Europeans arrived, Canada was unsettled, and in no sense an organized political entity. It was chronically underpopulated, and those who lived within our present borders were talented and skilful tribes and clans sharing what was essentially a Stone Age civilization frequently engaged in internecine violence. Let us by all means pay them homage and embrace them as fellow Canadians, but not in a manner that could be construed as undermining the right of the rest of us to be here and negating the fact that our forebears brought Canada swiftly up to the most advanced conditions of contemporary civilization.
6 days ago
- General
Did King Charles fend off Donald Trump's 51st state desires?
Article content Article content There was a lot for conservatives to like in King Charles III's throne speech, but as Prime Minister Mark Carney has noted, it's one thing to have slogans, what we need now is concrete action to back up the government's ambitious goals, argues political strategist Anthony Koch, in an interview with the National Post's Terry Newman.
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
A royal visit and a high-stakes political moment
Front Burner (Sarah Claydon) For more episodes of this podcast, please click here . For the third time in Canadian history, the head of the British monarchy delivered the throne speech before ushering in a new session of parliament. It comes at a time when Canada could use some help protecting its sovereignty in the face of threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. But how does this moment fit in with King Charles' reign so far, which has been marked by political turmoil, royal rifts, calls for reparations and cutting ties with the British monarchy? We break it all down with Ellie Hall, a freelance reporter and former official royal correspondent for BuzzFeed News. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:
