As his younger son conducts an attention-seeking trip to China, it was King Charles, addressing Canada’s House of Commons and Senate, who showed how a calm, dignified approach to public life pays far greater dividends than empty point-scoring. The King has been a popular and welcome figure in Canada since he arrived with the Queen on a brief visit yesterday; the enthusiastic greetings from tens of thousands of Canadians was no mere piece of theatre. Charles’s oft-forgotten status as King of Canada has been foremost in people’s minds, thanks to the carefully and adroitly handled pageantry surrounding him, but it was his set-piece speech in the Senate in Ottawa that was the most anticipated aspect of his appearance. It did not disappoint.
The King has sent a clear message to the White House on behalf of all Canadians
Charles is the most naturally gifted public speaker in the royal family – a legacy, perhaps, of his amateur theatricals at Cambridge – and he has excelled over the course of his reign in delivering fluent, apparently heartfelt and affecting addresses.
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