US desires: Canada welcomes his king – does that help against Trump?

Canada is said to be the “loved one 51st state” of the United States – so US President Donald Trump would like it. But the Canadians are not well received: Trump’s fantasies made the Liberal Party of Canada, who had already been written off, an unexpected victory in the parliamentary election last month – probably because the top candidate of the conservative party was very in the limelight as a trump copy.

The country’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, made it clear: “Canada is not for sale, and it will never be.” Trump didn’t really impress that. But the former head of the Bank of England has an ace her sleeve, or rather: a king.

Trump venerates Charles

Charles III. (76) and his wife Camilla (77) visit the former British colony this week at the invitation of Carney. As an independent state, Canada has retained the monarchy as part of Commonwealth of Nations. The king is recognized by the Canadian constitution as such and will hold a speech on Tuesday in the parliament in Ottawa.

The ceremony of the parliamentary opening is one of the most important tasks of the monarch in Great Britain – in Canada, on the other hand, he rarely takes on this task for the first time in decades on Tuesday.

Trump venerates the British king. “It is an honor to be a friend of Charles. I have a lot of respect for King Charles,” he said recently and raved about his upcoming second state visit to Great Britain, to which the king had invited him on behalf of the government.

King is in “difficult location”

What Charles thinks about Trump and his annexation plans is not known. However, according to the constitutional lawyer Craig Prescott from the London University of Royal Holloway, the Briton should be anything but impressed.

“He is in a very difficult situation,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency and added: “Constitutionally, he embodies two different people.” On the one hand, Charles, as a British king, was forced to support the government-friendly course of the government in London. On the other hand, he also has to do justice to the people in Canada and the government there, who takes a completely different attitude for obvious reasons.

The visit and the opening of the parliament are therefore like the squaring of the circle. “They make it clear that Canada is different and has a completely different political and constitutional tradition than the USA,” says Prescott. Trump can hardly resent the king. “Because it is completely legitimate that the king of Canada travels to Canada and opens the Canadian parliament.”

Carney can let the king speak for himself

What Charles thinks will not be revealed in the speech either. Just as in the United Kingdom, the speech of the monarch at the opening of the parliament is actually a declaration of government by the Prime Minister, which is simply read out by the king. Mark Carney can let the king speak for himself.

It is now exciting how far Carney is going. “Will the speech be about Canadian sovereignty and the Canadian nation?” The ceremony will be a big moment that the eyes of the world will be aimed at, Prescott is certain.

There is also an opportunity in the wire rope act

It is the first time that Charles travels to Canada as a monarch, he was still Prince of Wales on the previous visit. And it is only the third time that a monarch opened the parliament in Canada: his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, provided the premiere in 1957 and also gave the speech again in 1977.

For Charles and the British royal family, the wire rope act even offers a chance: in Canada, a clear majority of people recently spoke out in surveys for the abolition of the monarchy. “It is an opportunity for him to go to Canada and demonstrate the value of the monarchy in these unusual circumstances,” said constitutional lawyer Prescott.