Where the hell is our head of state?
I speak, of course, of His Majesty, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God King of Canada and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.
One would think, wouldn’t one, that in a grave national crisis, a real head of state would speak up for the state of which he was head?
And yet here we Canadians are – Charles III Dei Gratia Rex showing up on more bronze-electroplated nickel Loonies in our pockets by the day now – facing what is supposedly our gravest national crisis since World War II, and what does our sovereign gentleman have to say about the fact the most ungentlemanly president of the United States wants to make Canada the 51st state and, if we won’t come along willingly, he’ll squeeze us till the pips squeak?
Crickets, apparently!
Actually, it’s worse than crickets.
We’re reliably informed that Charles, or some royal bureaucrat in his employ at Buck House, thinks the threatened takeover of one of his other Realms and territories is none of the King’s royal business.
To quote The Canadian Press, on Jan. 26, “A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said Trump’s takeover threat is ‘not something we would comment on.’” You can almost hear the spokesthingy’s irritating plummy voice uttering those words, can’t you?
Why the hell not? Charles is the King of Canada, is he not?
Well, CP dug up a professor, supposedly an expert on the role of the Crown in Canada, to explain to us poor commoners that the King “serves in a ceremonial and apolitical role.”
“He won’t comment on issues facing Canada of his own accord, nor should we want him to do so,” the CP’s expert patronizingly informed us. (Thank you for that, professor.) And anyway, the author of the CP report continued, “If the King were to respond to Trump on his own, it could make him a target.”
Well, we can’t have that, especially when the fellow making a finger pistol and waggling his thumb is none other than His Mightiness* Donald J. Trump.
Now it is true, if sometimes honoured in the breach, that the Monarch’s role (or that of his vice-regal proxy) is apolitical when it comes to deciding which party will get to form a government after a close election result.
Long gone are the days when you could count on a king to get up in his stirrups and yell at the lads, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead!”
But, still, it is emphatically incorrect to claim that even in a polite constitutional monarchy there is no role for the monarch to play in the Defence of the Realm. (Why do you think, for heaven’s sake, the Royals are always showing up in such nicely tailored military uniforms?)
Perhaps someone should suggest to King Charles that he say something like this: “We have been forced into a conflict, for we are called, with our allies, to meet the challenge of a principle which, if it were to prevail, would be fatal to any civilized order in the world.
“It is a principle which permits a state, in the selfish pursuit of power, to disregard its treaties and its solemn pledges, which sanctions the use of force or threat of force against the sovereignty and independence of other states. …
“It is to this high purpose that I now call my people at home, and my peoples across the seas, who will make our cause their own. I ask them to stand calm and firm and united in this time of trial. …”
That sounds about right for the circumstances, don’t ya think?
That was Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, by the way, speaking to the people of Britain, and those of us in what used to known as the Empire, on Sept. 3, 1939. Canada declared war on Germany a week later.
Now, if Charles III isn’t quite up to making a full speech, perhaps he could take another page from his grandfather’s book and at least come and reside here in Canada until the threat of a Trump takeover has passed. He could buck up his dejected subjects with visits to their steel and aluminum plants, for starters.
Failing that, even a short visit would be nice, with a few anodyne platitudes tossed around. As the King’s mother said in 2017, “We pray that God will bless Canada and that, over the next 150 years, Canadians will continue to build a better country and a better world.”
As do we all, Madam. As do we all.
Well, presumably it’s up to us to ask. So let’s not be strangers! We Canadians could all use a royal boost about now.
And if the King can’t even do that for his subjects … who needs him?
Seriously, he might as well be Mr. Windsor, and present his passport at the airport like any other visitor when he shows up.
And we might as well become a republic – although not the disintegrating one next door, thank you very much – with our own Canadian faces on our coins if this is all we can expect from our head of state.
*A title actually considered for the President of the United States. George Washington is said to have had the good sense to veto that notion and settle for the rather more dignified Mr. President.
Well at least the King sent us a Prince to bolster our spirits, or perhaps Harry came of his own accord. Regardless, Harry didn’t say anything too controversial lest he raise the ire of the Orange Menace who could kick him out of the US. Fortunately it seems the Orange One actually likes Harry and only dislikes his wife, who he can’t kick out because she was born there.
So I doubt there will be a repeat of 1814 when the British helped us burn down the White House or 1939 when the imminent threat was more to Britain than us, although we quickly came to their defense. Well, the Empire ended after that war, so if our independence wasn’t quite clear in 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, surely it is by now. We are on our own.
Apparently the Orange One likes most of the Royals, so the King may put in good word for us when the opportunity arises. Or if the US President gets around to threating other countries like the UK, as some expect may happen, perhaps we may once again be united against common enemy.
However it really is up to Canadians now to decide if they want to be part of Trumps imperial realm, not the King. And I think Canadians will yet again not choose the former.
I would like to believe that George would have been appalled at the undignified president stepping past her Her Majesty in the boorish way he did when in London.
And speaking of royalty moving to Canada, if we can’t get the king, will a prince do?
Apparently Harry is having problems with his visa, supposedly something to do partaking in a substance that though legal in Canada and a few states, is frowned upon when being honest with customs and immigration.
Since he unintentionally put the run to Skippy from Vancouver, upstaged by a Prince- no more photo ops , gives him big check mark in my book.
Also big shout out to our Premier for his speech at the opening of the Invictus games, especially talking to the American athletes……now that was dignified diplomacy. Kudos!
Well, expecting the least popular Royal to go all Churchill and denounce that the American Hitler is too much to hope for…
“’Never Give In’ This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”
I wouldn’t expect Chuck III to bound in and deliver insightful snipes from Windsor Castle. No question such a repost would be followed by a heap about anecdotes, related by the late ER2, about Trump’s tiny hands and bad table manners.
“The King’s Ships Were at Sea.”
Yeah, well ever since that rebellion that formed the American Experiment (leading to the America Evil Empire) Great Britain doesn’t want to trip over that ‘special relationship’, lest Sussex be overrun with fat-fingered American tourists.
At this point, I’d suggest Canada — oh, I don’t know — do a surface nuclear test just to prove we can build the biggest toys, too. Trump is always impressed by big things.
“We shall go on to the end; we shall defend our Dominion; we shall fight on the seas and oceans; we shall fight on the plains and in the forests and the mountaintops; we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our Lands, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the streets, we shall fight in the cities, we shall fight in the fields, and … we will give up not a single Timmie’s nor an inch of our precious rolled-up-rims. WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER.”
Chuck and the rest of the “royal” family are useless parasites. The monarchy should have been abolished centuries ago.
French obviously…did you lot surrender within a week…
Now, now, Terry, let’s keep it civil here. DJC
What makes us different from the U.S.? We have a king. Now it seems that the monarchy only wants us when we are useful to them, not the other way around. Apparently we might as well sod off.
Mind you, some people on the internet in Britain are also asking questions about where the royal family is and what they are doing. Things aren’t what they were when Queen Elizabeth II was alive. Mind you, Charles had cancer and so did Catherine. In any case, as one Brit told me, “If you don’t like it, leave. We don’t care what you do.” I hope they remember that the next time they come calling for help in one of their wars. Would they mind if we cut them out of any and all interest in our country, since they have forsaken us? It seems even they are not our allies now.
To be honest, it looks like the whole world is letting Canada be a sacrificial lamb to the U.S. We might as well ask, “Where is NATO?” If they keep their heads down, surely they won’t be next on the American hit list. It’s awkward when a member of the alliance threatens another member of the alliance, isn’t it?
Canada is in no shape to help anybody in a war, including ourselves.
They’re probably mad at us because Prince Harry came here first, before he relocated to the U.S. Also, how dare we host the Invictus Games?
Nah, I’m going to leave the comments to King Lear on this one: ‘Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.’
A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue;
one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch… Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.
We’ve been here before, haven’t we?
This is all so outdated. Furthermore I think the royal family is afraid of Trump come after them LOL
Britain has been a bit of a lapdog to the U.S. for a while now. They are afraid of upsetting the Big Cheeto. Excellent point on the uniforms. Apparently, the uniforms on the Royal Family now are just a form of dress up playtime.
The King is apolitical and saying something without the blessing of the British government is probably unacceptable. Also, re a visit, we have no idea on the true state of his health right now either.
A Royal visit by his son would help solidify Canada’s place as a member of a different realm, the Commonwealth. But, ah, the Invictus Games are underway right now, with the “estranged” son visiting. Can both be here at once?
And will the British government “allow” a Royal visit, poking the bear, as it were, knowing they may inflict the wrath of His Craziness on them?
Your wishes re the King aren’t wrong, Sir, but it’s not nearly so simple, I think.
I do love your research, your insight, and your masterful delivery for almost all of your work, though. Please keep it going.
Mr. DJC, you are walking pretty close to the ledge quoting Shakespeare. While the Bard is not widely read by TBA and MAGA types, the Coles notes summaries cover violence, witchcraft, possible gender confusion, underage and forbidden romance, and many other controversial topics. How soon until you too are banned?
To make your blog interactive, from which plays are the following (for some reason these jumped out at me)?
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
“You speak an infinite deal of nothing.”
MD: Frequent intentional gender confusion, I would say. DJC
Since Canada has been forced to evaluate it’s international relationships, now would be the time to ditch the outdated, useless monarchy from our collective identity. While Chuck and Chito can discuss the lengths they went to to get their respective whores to be “acceptable”, its time for Canada to move on. Here in Alberta, we certainly don’t need the ribbon-cuttin’, rubber-stampin’ Lieutenant Governor to continue to drive Danielle’s getaway car.
More importantly to me is the absolute silence from the PM of the UK, and the heads of the EU and NATO. Come on people. You’re next!
“Constitutional fire extinguisher” is about the only real use of a constitutional monarchy. Look at the orange shit gibbon – impeached twice, but not convicted. Actually convicted of electoral finance crime. Which, in Canada, would invalidate him from holding office. That is what a sovereign is for.
The most recent & closest example (to my knowledge) is the Bill van der Zalm real estate conflict of interest. The LtG of BC at the time, David Lam, revealed in an interview several years after the events he was going to remove van der Zalm from office if the premier had not resigned first.
In our case, the Governor General and Lt Governors are the go to guardians of the constitution. The sovereign is the final backup, only used if the vice-regals fail in their duty.
Here in Alberta, LtG. Lakhani spoke up when Trash can Dani brought her first pass at her silly ass sovereignty act. The
LtG bluntly said she would refuse royal assent. The clown party promptly amended the most egregiously unconstitutional parts.
So Charles does have a duty to speak up, but we just aren’t there yet. Governor General Simon should be the one to speak first.
A total waste of time and money. How much do we pay these mandarins to represent us. Hopefully only a couple of beaver pelts a year
How pathetic!
Put away your pith helmet and swagger stick, David. King Chuck is a total irrelevancy for Canada. He has no role to play as our fully independent Canada deals with another royal pain in the backside.
Please leave Charlie alone, he has enough trouble figuring out how to put the toothpaste on his tooth brush
It’s crisitunity time for the Canadian monarchy. Sit aside during threats to the territorial integrity of the Realm and expect to birth republicanism (again, not that type south of here), or make a statement, even a press release, that the fate of the Dominion can only be determined by the will of his subjects, and watch the world focus more on Trump’s imperial ambitions while a King becomes a champion of liberal democracy. It’s really not that hard.
To all those Canadian politicians presently urging Canada to capitulate to the U.S., here’s a royal reminder from the past.
https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/historians-believe-the-duke-of-windsor-actively-collaborated-with-the-nazis-during-the-second-world-war-1.6635225
Portugal? You don’t say!
Excuse me, I stand corrected on the “fentanyl Czar “….but I still totally disagree with the use of that terminology, and we’ll see what Marlaina has to say now that we have a name & face to the position.
A visit from His Majesty would be splendid indeed. But a royal statement on the tariff stalemate (so far, March 3rd, not especially the Ides—they do move around in each month, you know) should neither be expected nor demanded.
There’s an appropriate time for that, a time that does not bring the King’s mandated impartiality into disrepute—but we are not at war so he may only affect the slightest opinion as cryptically as possible —like where he goes, the colour of his shoes, his demeanour, all of which are more than sufficient evidence for news-media speculation.
The only occasion the King may insert his opinion into the policy of his elected government is when there is zero difference between politcal parties and among the populace what that policy should be, and only then his mandatory non-partisanship is assured. But we are not at war.
tRump certainly doesn’t understand this, but for an non-elected head of state constitutionally mandated to observe totally apolitical (there’s an arcane exception I’d be happy to explain, but let’s just—uh—no…no…) impartiality, any comment from the King about the tariff tiff is tantamount to a declaration of war. Not gonna happen.
You know, he could say something like, “I always want people to be friends,” and repeat it as many times a he’s asked what that means. It’s not as if he can order the Royal Navy to do a Run DC-1814 again (somebody really oughta write a rejoinder to Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans”—first song I ever learned, for the hit on the radio…) anyhow.
Otherwise, “On Saint Crispin’s Day!”
Pip and a Pimm’s, then?
I actually sent something if this ilk to the Canadian Monarchists last week. Crickets.
If our Commonwealth is useless even at the level of rhetoric, what in the hell are we doing?
Brian: Given the past behaviour, I’m surprised they didn’t stain their silks and scream at you. DJC
Have we asked him?
I believe it would be the responsibility of the Governor in Council to ask for his assistance.
Did they ask?
This is unknown. DJC
Charles has been a disappointment since the day he was born. He more interested in his relationship with Camilla then looking after his Kingdom. Elizabeth would have known what to do and how to deal with Donald Trump.
HM Queen Elizabeth refused to have any heads of the Israeli government visit due to their terrorist acts against British soldiers.
Her Majesty knew how to do a good snubbing.
Charles should have paid attention. No wonder she found him disappointing.
Oh you mean Charlie? don’t expect him to do anything. He’ll most likely tell the world, the monarch doesn’t become politically involved in matters and we are of course a nation which is independent of G.B./ Crown. What it boils down to is he doesn’t want Trump to focus on G.B. If they were to become targets and there were a financial crisis, citizens of G.B. would most likely not want to pay for the Royal’s standard of living. The Windsors will keep very quiet.
If Canada were to have a very big problem with the Americans we might have some assistance from Australia, but that is it for the old empire.