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In Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park, those gathered in the enthusiastic crowd on Monday reached out, trying to shake hands or grab a selfie with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
In the grounds of Rideau Hall, a spontaneous rendition of God Save the King filled the air after Charles and Camilla completed that most royal of royal duties: planting a tree.
And in the Senate Tuesday, those listening broke into applause as Charles wrapped up his main task as Canada’s head of state on a whirlwind trip to the country, drawing the speech from the throne to a close by saying, “As the anthem reminds us: The true north is indeed strong and free.”
The trip, which had unfolded in a highly charged political climate for the country after repeated annexation taunts from U.S. President Donald Trump, wrapped up with a sense that it was a historic moment for both the country and the monarch.
“I think it is going to go down as one of the most successful royal visits,” royal historian Justin Vovk of McMaster University in Hamilton said in an interview.
The trip that brought Charles and Camilla to the country’s capital for just shy of 24 hours “hit the mark everywhere it has needed to,” Vovk said.
King Charles and Queen Camilla travelled in a ceremonial horse-drawn carriage through the Parliamentary precinct in Ottawa Tuesday ahead of the speech from the throne.
“Everything from the moment they got off the plane, the people chosen to meet them, the inclusion of not just the chief of the National Assembly of First Nations, but also Indigenous musicians, Indigenous young people, and having high schoolers and Canadian youth get to meet him — the visit to Lansdowne Park was a huge, huge success.”
That time in the park Monday gave Charles and Camilla the opportunity to meet — very briefly — a wide range of Canadians. The enthusiasm of the crowd gathered there was palpable.
“There was a great deal of warmth from the Canadian people gathered in Ottawa to greet the King and Queen,” Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview.
“There was spontaneous singing of God Save the King and O Canada at the tree planting at Rideau Hall. And on Tuesday, amidst all the cheering, there were a few people who shouted, ‘Thanks for coming.'”
Harris sees it all as “a very historic moment that was greatly appreciated by the thousands of Canadians who came to see King Charles and Queen Camilla during their time in Canada.”
As much as the visit was ostensibly to Canada, there is little doubt that organizers knew it would be scrutinized beyond the country’s borders, particularly in Washington. But it would also be watched in the United Kingdom, where trade and other priorities can at times differ from those of Canada.
“I think the U.K. government will be broadly happy with it, but it all depends on the response, if any, from the White House,” Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London, said in an interview.
“That’s the real thing and we don’t know … whether Trump will just simply ignore it or whether we’ll get a tweet on Truth Social all in capitals about it. That’s the unpredictable thing here.
“But I think in a sense this was a Canadian moment for Canada,” said Prescott, who also described it as a “unique trip” for a “unique moment.”
It was also a moment for King Charles himself.
“I would go as far as to say that outside the … immediate accession and the coronation, I think this has been his biggest moment in his reign so far,” said Prescott.
“There’s so much in it. There’s the Commonwealth element. There’s the political element. There’s the moment it is for Canada … that tightrope with the U.K.”
King Charles, speaking from the Senate chamber on Tuesday, delivered a speech from the throne that acknowledged the worry that comes with a ‘drastically changing world’ — including a changing relationship between Canada and the U.S. But the speech also looked forward, pointing to government plans to increase affordability, take on major projects and build a strong economy that ‘serves everyone.’
In watching Charles, Prescott sees a “modern monarch” distinguishing himself from the 70-year reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth.
The throne speech Charles read, which included remarks outside those written by the Canadian government, was an “example of him delivering a sharper speech than Elizabeth II would,” Prescott said.
“Elizabeth II would have covered the same territory but in much more coded language. This speech didn’t need to be decoded as such.… This was crystal clear and that’s the big change, really.”
Prescott thought he detected a look of nervousness from Charles before he read the speech.
“If you watch your mother do the state opening of Parliament in the U.K. — and that is a very dry speech — this is very much the Canadian equivalent. But he knew he was going to be saying much more than that. It’s a much bigger moment.”
As much as Charles and Camilla were enthusiastically welcomed for the short visit, there are lingering questions. How much will the visit resonate with Canadians outside those who eagerly hit the streets of Ottawa to see them or who followed along from home?
“I don’t think we can anticipate that this is going to lead to any major shifts in Canadian sentiments about the monarchy, positive or negative,” said Vovk, of McMaster University.
“I think that some Canadians will see this visit as having been something good for Canada in the moment, but I think the level of comfortable indifference towards the monarchy … will largely stay where it is.”
No matter what level of success could be seen out of the visit, any endeavour can come with missed opportunities.
“The brevity of the tour meant that it was very focused on Ottawa, on various points around the city,” Harris said.
“A longer tour would allow the King and Queen to visit more places in Canada, and interact with more Canadians and take in the full diversity of Canadian culture and society.
“But this was a short, targeted royal visit, focused on delivering the throne speech. So it makes sense that this tour was quite focused on Ottawa.”
Amid all the enthusiasm shown for King Charles and Queen Camilla, there was one spot of protest, a moment that also left a mark for Vovk.
“When there were the protesters at Lansdowne Park chanting, ‘Not our King,’ I was actually quite moved by the fact that this is Canada and they were able to do that and protest like that freely,” he said.
“And it was done in a peaceful way that you don’t see in other places in North America. And I thought, what could be more representative of Canada than the ability to have two completely contradictory world views occupying the same space and to still be maintaining the peace?”
Looking back at the visit
Here’s a look at how the first day of the visit went.
And here’s how Tuesday — the second and final day of the visit — unfolded.
‘Pretty unbelievable’ to meet the King again
The Coronation Girls got to see King Charles a second time.
“Not only did we have tea with the King in Buckingham Palace in December of 2023, but it was pretty unbelievable that his coming to Ottawa meant that a few of us could meet him again,” Carol Shipley said via email.
The Coronation Girls are the focus of a documentary feature film that premiered late last year and followed a dozen Canadian women while they were in England late in 2023. They were retracing the steps of a formative trip they made to the United Kingdom as teenagers at the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.
As King Charles arrives in Ottawa to deliver a historic speech from the throne, CBC’s chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault connects with a Canadian who shares a unique connection to the Royal Family that dates back to 1953.
Three of the Coronation Girls were at Rideau Hall on Monday, watching Charles and Camilla plant a blue beech tree.
“It was so fitting for King Charles to plant a tree — he was concerned about the environment long before most of us were thinking of it,” Shipley, 89, of Ottawa, said.
“At the palace, he and Yvonne Harris, a Coronation Girl from Yukon and more recently, Port Coquitlam, B.C., shared their passion and commitment to save the planet.”
Shipley recalled Yvonne telling Charles: “Trees are the lungs of our planet.”
Yvonne died two months ago, Shipley said.
“We are especially grateful to His Majesty for coming to Canada at this important moment in our country’s history to support us in our resolve to protect our sovereign nation from threat.”
What’s the protocol?
Those watching the royals can often wonder about the protocol involved with meeting them.
And there was a moment on Tuesday that might have seemed a bit unusual ahead of the throne speech: Former governor general Michaëlle Jean led King Charles by the hand to meet Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.
“On the one hand, the general protocol is that one doesn’t do that: initiating physical contact, let alone physically leading members of the Royal Family,” Vovk said via email.
But there’s also a sense that there are warm, close relationships between Charles and many of the previous governors general.
“I suspect this incident falls somewhere between these two: Ms. Jean probably did overstep the broad protocols, but she may have been given consent by His Majesty to do so or felt she could based on their previous working relationship,” Vovk said.
Harris, the Toronto-based historian, said there is “often a relaxed atmosphere” on royal tours in Commonwealth realms.
“King Charles III has embraced comparative informality on royal tours of Canada.”
Jean will likely receive media scrutiny based on coverage of past governors general and their interactions with the monarch, Harris said.
“In 2017, Gov. Gen. David Johnston received extensive press coverage for lightly touching Queen Elizabeth II’s elbow to help her down the stairs at Canada House.”
Royally quotable
“As I have said before, ‘Every time I come to Canada, a little more of Canada seeps into my bloodstream — and from there straight to my heart.'”
— King Charles, in his speech from the throne delivered in the Canadian Senate on Tuesday.
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