His Majesty held a private audience with two senior Canadian officials to discuss national and international topics of great concern. Photo / Getty Images
His Majesty held a private audience with two senior Canadian officials to discuss national and international topics of great concern. Photo / Getty Images
His Majesty held a private audience at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday with two senior Canadian officials: Greg Peters, the senate’s Usher of the Black Rod, and Raymonde Gagné, the speaker.
While such meetings are private, they are understood to have discussed topics “of great concern to all parties, both nationally and internationally”.
A royal source suggested that it would have been unusual, in the circumstances, if they had not discussed Trump’s provocative statements over Canada’s trade tariffs and sovereignty.
The US president has repeatedly floated the idea that the United States could absorb Canada and make it the 51st state.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea that the United States could absorb Canada. Photo / Getty Images
On Tuesday, he also threatened to double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminium for Canada from 25% to 50% for Canada, but hours later halted the plan.
Mark Carney, the incoming Canadian prime minister, has pledged to keep retaliatory tariffs in place until the US commits to free trade.
The audience with the two Canadian officials had been long scheduled, but offered a timely opportunity for the King to “reaffirm” the sentiments he shared on the 60th anniversary of the Canadian flag last month, the source suggested.
Then, the King said the flag had become an international symbol of “a proud, resilient and compassionate country”.
He added: “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.”
The King warmly greeted his Canadian visitors in both English and French ahead of the 30-minute meeting, which was held to present Peters with a new ceremonial sword commissioned by the senate in the King’s honour to mark the change of reign.
It came just days after the King was urged to stand up to the US president over his threat to absorb Canada.
The King warmly greeted his Canadian visitors in both English and French ahead of the 30-minute meeting. Photo / Getty Images
Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, the head of the Commonwealth nation’s richest province, told The Telegraph last week that the King, as head of state, had a duty to confront Trump.
“We sing ‘God save the King’ every week when we’re in the legislature,” Smith said.
“I swear an oath to the King, our cabinet secrecy is affirmed by our oath to the King, and we’ve got him on our bank notes.
“So I think he should have something to say about [Trump’s campaign to absorb Canada], because it is, I think, a direct confrontation to British sovereignty.”
The monarch is said to be “very conscious” of his global responsibility and the matters of “delicate diplomacy” that have increasingly fallen on his shoulders.
He has invited Trump to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit, as well as an earlier visit to Scotland.
King Charles met Justin Trudeau earlier this month when issues of importance to Canadians are said to have been raised. Photo / Getty Images
Earlier this month, he met Justin Trudeau, the outgoing Canadian prime minister, at Sandringham, when issues of importance to Canadians, including “standing up for our sovereignty and our independence as a nation” are said to have been raised.
After the meeting, a royal source said the King was planning a tour of Canada in 2026, but suggested it would not be fitting for him to respond to Trump directly.
The previous day, the King hosted Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, welcoming him to his Norfolk estate just days after his dramatic Oval Office clash with Trump.
The meeting was said to have irked Trump, with diplomatic sources claiming he had “gone cool” on the UK and felt it somehow lessened the weight of his own royal invitation to visit Britain.
The King hosted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, welcoming him to his Norfolk estate. Photo / Getty Images
Both audiences were described as “routine but highly significant, given the global context”.
A royal source said at the time: “As a global statesman and a head of state for both the UK and Canada, the King’s role is highly significant, and His Majesty is determined to play his part, within appropriate parameters.
“His role by necessity and constitutional obligation is to offer symbolic gestures, rather than express comment.”
His unique brand of soft diplomacy was widely thought to have been on display in December 2023 when the King opted to wear a blue and white tie with a pattern based on the Greek flag to address the Cop28 conference following a week-long row between the UK and Greece over the Elgin Marbles.
Many interpreted it as a coded show of support for Greece but Buckingham Palace insisted that it was just a random choice of tie.
