In a remarkable example of good intentions gone horribly awry, the invitation British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pulled smugly from his pocket inviting U.S. President Donald Trump for a state visit to Britain has created a constitutional crisis, both in the U.K. and Canada.
The personal invitation from King Charles III was viewed as a coup. The British government was using the soft power of the monarchy to flatter Trump. He’s their best buddy. Until he isn’t.
One day later, Trump and his Vice President JD Vance engaged in a shouting match with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, berating and belittling him. That caused a sea change. The British public despises such displays. They don’t want Trump to visit.
In Canada, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been outspoken in suggesting that Charles should stand up to Trump and his threat to annex Canada.
In an interview with London’s Daily Telegraph, Smith said the King, as Canada’s head of state, has a duty to do something.
“We sing God Save The King every week when we’re in the legislature,” Smith told correspondent Memphis Barker. “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,” she said.
“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.”
She said Canada’s ties to the monarchy are one reason “why I think the notion of a 51st state is being rejected out of hand.”
While Charles met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and wore Canadian military honours during a visit to a Royal Navy aircraft carrier last week, that may be too subtle for Americans.
Charles, 76, has cancer. It’s unreasonable to expect him to undertake a lengthy royal tour. And he can’t dabble in politics. He could, however, deliver the upcoming Throne Speech to Parliament.
The definition of a Canadian isn’t as someone who’s not American. We’re a constitutional monarchy and a sovereign nation. We have a history defined by the monarchy. This is where Empire Loyalists with allegiance to the Crown fled after the War of Independence.
It’s time to stand up for that legacy now.