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A Royal Reflection of the Canadian Mosaic

This essay was written in 2012.

Canadians have always been interested in genealogy. In many First Nations, it determined chiefship or clan membership. In the nineteenth century, Cyprien Tanguay and E.M. Chadwick published classic compilations of family trees from Québec and Ontario. The United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada was chartered in 1914 for “the descendants of those families who … sacrificed their homes in retaining their loyalty to the British Crown,” which presupposes knowledge of ancestry. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, however, genealogical research has exploded in Canada. Genealogical societies now exist in every province. When politicians rise to prominence, the media report on their ancestry, and millions of Canadian genealogical records are now available on line.

The census of 2006 found Canada to have 31,241,030 people, with 18,319,580 reporting a single ethnic background, and 12,921,445 of mixed ancestry. As this article shows, the lineage of the Queen, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and the late Princess, and the Duke of Cambridge reflects this Canadian mosaic. (For conciseness, the last four will often be called Philip, Charles, Diana, and William). In the census, 5,881,285 people identified themselves simply as Canadian, with a further 4,317,570 listing Canadian as one of several national origins. This means that a total of 32% of our population regard some or all of their heritage as Canadian (note that because so many of us claim multiple origins, the total of the percentages given in this article far exceeds 100). All of us, from Aboriginals to the newest New Canadians, are entitled to call ourselves “Canadian” on the census. Of the current members of the Royal Family, the Duchess of Cornwall has Canadian roots, being the great-great-great grand daughter of Sir Allan MacNab (died 1862), Prime Minister of pre-Confederation Canada from 1854 to 1856, who was born in what is now Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

There are 1,678,235 Aboriginal Canadians (5½ percent of our population). It does not appear that the Royal Family has any Aboriginal Canadian blood, but some of their cousins probably do, perhaps through Isabella, first Lady Strathcona (died 1913), a Métis.

Our largest ethnic group comprises people wholly or partly of English heritage: 6,570,015 (21 percent). The English trace their roots to the Anglo-Saxons, Germanic tribesmen who settled in Britain. By the time of Alfred the Great (died 901), the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united under a single English monarch. In 1707, England and Scotland joined in the kingdom of Great Britain, which on the addition of Ireland in 1801 became the United Kingdom. The Duke of Cambridge is descended from many early Anglo-Saxon kings, and from Alfred and every subsequent English and British sovereign who left children except William IV (died 1837). The Duke’s other English ancestors include Lady Godiva (11th century); George, Duke of Clarence (died 1478), who as recounted by Shakespeare was drowned in a vat of wine; the British prime minister Charles, second Earl Grey (died 1845); an eighteenth-century plumber named Mr Walsh; and George, fourth Earl of Huntingdon (died 1604), who may have been a kinsman of Mary Arden, mother of William Shakespeare (died 1616).

5,000,350 Canadians (16 percent) report French ancestry. The Royal Family is descended from France’s Carolingian (752-987), Capetian (987-1328), and Valois (1328-1498) dynasties. Through Diana, William is descended from Henri IV (died 1610), first king of the Bourbon dynasty and sponsor of Champlain’s voyages. The Royal Family’s many other French ancestors include the Norman and Plantagenet kings who ruled England from 1066 to 1485.

At 4,719,850 (15 percent), Canadians with Scottish ancestry are our third largest community. The kingdom of Scotland emerged in the ninth century through the fusion of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and the Scots. The Royal Family claims descent from Fergus Mór (died 501), the legendary king of the Scots who came over from Ireland, and his descendant Cináed (died 860) who became king of the Picts, and many later Scottish monarchs including Robert the Bruce (died 1329) and Mary Queen of Scots (died 1587). The late Queen Mother’s father was Scottish, Claude, fourteenth Earl of Strathmore (died 1944), and through him the Queen carries the blood of many leading families of Scotland.

There are almost as many Irish-Canadians as there are Scottish-Canadians: 4,354,155 (14 percent). Until the twelfth century, there were scores of kingdoms in Ireland, all nominally subject to a High King. One of the earliest historical kings was Niall Noígíallach, “Niall of the Nine Hostages,” who lived in the fourth or fifth century. His descendants, the Uí Néill (O’Neills), dominated Ireland until their power was broken by Brian Bóroimhe (died 1014), founder of the Ua Briain (O’Briens). In 1169, at the invitation of King Diarmait of Leinster (died 1171), a Norman army from England landed in Ireland. The Queen Mother was descended from Niall, Brian, and Diarmait, as well as the Norman families of Butler, de Burgh, and Fitzgerald which settled in Ireland after 1169. Over the succeeding centuries, Ireland came under English rule; the Queen Mother was also descended from Aodh Mór Ó Néill, Earl of Tyrone (died 1616), who led the final Irish resistance to the conquest. In 1922, the twenty-six counties of southern Ireland were constituted the Irish Free State, which in 1949 became the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom. Until 1973 the sovereign was represented in Northern Ireland by governors, the first of whom, James, third Duke of Abercorn (died 1953), was a great-grandfather of Diana’s.

One of every ten Canadians, 3,179,425, claims German heritage. Another 194,255 trace their background to Austria, which until 1866 was one of the German states. Germany was the core of the Holy Roman Empire, which was founded by Charlemagne (died 814) and lasted until 1806. The Royal Family is descended from Charlemagne and many later dynasties of Emperors, including the Hohenstaufens (1152-1197, 1215-1250) and Habsburgs (1440-1740, 1745-1806; they also ruled Austria until 1918). Over time, the German nobles became virtually independent monarchs, and they remained sovereign through the unification of Germany in 1871 until the end of the First World War in 1918. The Royal Family traces its ancestry to the rulers of such German states as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden, Brunswick, Hesse, Lippe, Mecklenburg, and Oldenburg. Among their other German ancestors are the Münchhausens, the same family as the storyteller Baron Münchhausen (died 1797), and the princes of Thurn and Taxis, who dominated European postal services from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.

Canadians of Italian origin number 1,445,330 (5 percent). The first King of Italy was the Royal Family’s ancestor Pepin (died 810). During the Middle Ages, Italy was divided. The south became the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, founded by the Queen’s ancestor Ruggero I (died 1154). The centre of the peninsula was ruled by the Pope; Diana was descended from Pope Felix V (died 1451), who before becoming a priest was the married Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy. Northern Italy was long partitioned into city-states, which came to be dominated by noble families, including Diana’s ancestors the Dorias of Genoa, the Medicis of Florence, and the Viscontis of Milan. In addition, the Queen is descended from Count Adenolfo of Aquino, brother of St Thomas Aquinas (died 1274).

There are 1,346,510 Chinese-Canadians (4 percent). A succession of imperial dynasties ruled China until 1911. The genealogist David Hughes proposed descents for our Royal Family from the Han (206 BC-AD 220), Northern Wei (386-535), Tang (618-907) and Second Zhou (690-705) dynasties. The descent from the Han and Northern Wei runs through the chiefs of the Göktürks (a Central Asian people) and kings of Persia to the Exilarchs (heads of the Jews of Babylon), and then accepts the identification of the Queen’s ancestor Theuderic of Narbonne with the Exilarch Makhir (see below). The descent from the Tang and Second Zhou comes through the rulers of the Yenisei Kyrgyz of Siberia and the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan (died 1227). As will be seen below, Queen Mary may have been descended from Genghis Khan.

The 1,209,090 Ukrainian-Canadians make up 4 percent of our population. The Queen is descended from many mediaeval Grand Princes of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine, including St Volodymyr the Great (died 1015), who accepted Christianity, and Volodymyr Monomakh (died 1125), who presided over the Golden Age of Kiev. Many Ukrainian-Canadians originated in Galicia or Halych, a region now divided between Poland and Ukraine. The Queen is also descended from Danylo I (died 1264), first king of Halych.

Three percent of Canadians, 1,035,965 people, have Dutch heritage. Philip’s ancestor William the Silent (died 1584) led the Dutch War of Independence against Spain. For two centuries, his descendants governed the Dutch Republic, and they have held the throne since the Netherlands became a kingdom in 1815. Through the Queen Mother, the Royal Family is also descended from Hans Bentinck (died 1709), a nobleman who accompanied our Dutch King William III to England and was created Earl of Portland; and both Diana and the present Duchess of Cornwall are descended from another of William III’s Dutch courtiers, Arnold Joost van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle (died 1718).

There are 984,565 Canadians of Polish origin (3 percent). Through his mother, William is a direct descendant of Mieszko I (died 992), first historical ruler of Poland, and Kazimierz III (died 1370), one of the country’s greatest monarchs. In 1386 Kazimierz’s grand-niece Jadwiga married Jogaila (died 1434), the pagan Grand Duke of Lithuania, who converted to Christianity and became King Władysław II of Poland. Władysław and Jadwiga's descendants, the Jagiellons (from the Polish form of Jogaila), ruled Poland and Lithuania until 1572. The Royal Family is descended from three of the Jagiellon Kings.

Another three percent of Canadians, 962,670 people, trace their roots to India. While the Royal Family seems not to have any Indian ancestors, it does have cousins of Indian heritage. For example, the Canadian genealogist Morris Bierbrier has shown that the Gardner family of Uttar Pradesh in India unites the blood of the Queen’s ancestor Edward III and the Indian Emperor Shāh ‘Alam II (died 1806).

The census lists 783,795 Canadians as Black (2½ percent). The present Royal Family does not have any identifiable Black heritage. Some years ago, a Belizian-Canadian, Mario de Valdes y Cocom, claimed that George III’s wife Queen Charlotte had inherited noticeably African features from her distant ancestor Madragana, a mistress of King Afonso III of Portugal, who Mr Valdes says was Black. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Madragana was Black or that Charlotte had an African appearance. The Royal Family does, however, have cousins with Black ancestry. For example, James, Marquess of Hamilton, a second cousin of Diana, is descended from Abram Petrovich Gannibal (died 1781), a Black African courtier of Peter the Great of Russia.

There are 500,600 Russian-Canadians (1.6 percent). The Queen is descended from many of the Rurikid princes who ruled in Russia from about 862 until 1598. From 1613 to 1917, Russia was ruled by the Romanov dynasty, which included Philip’s ancestors Peter the Great (died 1725) and Catherine the Great (died 1796).

470,580 Canadians claim Arab origin (1½ percent), and the Royal Family may be descended from Arab monarchs of Spain. For example, the Queen’s ancestor Queen Elvira of Sicily (died 1135) was the daughter of the Spanish King Alfonso VI of Castile by his wife Isabella. Some historians have identified Isabella with one Zaida, who was either daughter or daughter-in-law of Muhammad al-Mu’tamid (died 1095), the Arab king of Seville.

Since 1301, the eldest son of the monarchs of England and Britain has generally borne the title of Prince of Wales, creating a special bond between the Royal Family and the 440,965 Welsh-Canadians (1½ percent). The Welsh are descended from Ancient Britons who dominated much of Great Britain before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. The rulers of the three main mediaeval Welsh principalities (Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth) traced their ancestry to the semi-legendary Coel Hen, the “Old King Cole” of the nursery rhyme. Our Royal Family is descended from him and many later Welsh princes, including Rhodri Mawr (the Great) of Gwynedd and Powys (died 878), Hywel Dda (the Good) of Deheubarth (died 950), and Owain Fawr (the Great) of Gwynedd (died 1240), the last important monarch before the English conquest in 1282. The Royal Family is also descended from the two greatest Welshmen of the fifteenth century, Owain Glyndŵr (died about 1416), who revolted against the English, and Harri Tudur, or Henry Tudor (died 1509), who in 1485 became King Henry VII.

Canadians of Scandinavian heritage include 432,515 with Norwegian ancestry, 334,765 Swedish, and 200,035 Danish. Through Philip and Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, the Royal Family is descended from Harald Hårfagre (“the Fair-Haired”) (died about 933), first King of Norway; Olof Skötkonung (died 1033), first King of Sweden; and Gorm den Gamle (”the Old”) (died about 958), first King of Denmark, and almost all the Danish Kings of the House of Oldenburg from 1448 to 1906.

Iberian-Canadians include 410,850 people of Portuguese heritage and 325,730 Spanish. Through Diana, William is a descendant of Afonso I (died 1185), first King of Portugal. Through Edward III’s wife Isabella of France, the Royal Family is descended from García Jiménez, a ninth-century nobleman who became the ancestor of the kings of Castile, León, Aragon, and Navarre, the main Christian states of mediaeval Spain, and from Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (died 1099), called El Cid, one of Spain’s greatest warriors. The Spanish kingdoms were united by two of Diana’s other ancestors, King Ferdinand of Aragon (died 1516) and Queen Isabella of Castile (died 1504).

316,350 Canadians (1 percent) claim American heritage. Some were born in the United States, others are men and women whose ancestors have come from the U.S.A. over the last 230 years, and still others are probably descended from Loyalists who settled here after the American Revolution. The Queen Mother was a descendant of Augustine Warner (died 1674), a leading inhabitant of colonial Virginia and also an ancestor of George Washington. One could probably trace a connection between the Warners and Virginia Loyalists who settled in Canada, for example the Robinsons.

There are 315,510 Hungarian-Canadians (1 percent). Queen Mary, wife of George V, had a Hungarian grandmother, Countess Claudine Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde. Through her, the Royal Family is descended from Árpád (died about 907), who led the pagan Magyars into central Europe and founded Hungary. From then until the Hungarian throne fell vacant in 1921, almost all the sovereigns of Hungary were descendants of Árpád, and many of them were ancestors of our Royal Family.

Another 1 percent of Canadians, 315,120 people, describe their origin as Jewish. The Royal Family may have Jewish ancestry through Zoltán of Hungary (died 947/8). He married the daughter of one Menumorut, who it has been suggested was a Khazar. The Khazars ruled the steppes from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, and around the beginning of the tenth century their monarch and many of his nobles adopted Judaism. If Menumorat was a Khazar, and if his family took part in the conversion, then the Royal Family has Jewish forefathers. A discredited theory, put forward by the historian Arthur Zuckerman, identifies the Queen’s eighth-century ancestor Theuderic of Narbonne with Makhir, leader of the Jews of Babylon and then Southern France, who was said to be a descendant of the Israelite King David (died about 970 BC). There are also claims that the Royal Family’s ancestors the Colonnas, a prominent Roman family since the twelfth century, are of Jewish origin.

No other Canadian ethnic groups reaches one percent of our population. There are 242,685 Greek-Canadians. Philip was born in Greece, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and the grandson of George I (died 1913), the first Greek king of the House of Oldenburg which reigned until 1974. Philip is also descended from the Komnenos, Doukas, Angelos, Laskaris, and Palaiologos dynasties, which ruled the Greek Byzantine Empire from 1057 to 1453. Then there are 192,170 Romanian Canadians. Until 1859, Romania was divided into two principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia. Through Queen Mary, the Royal Family is descended from the Bogdanids of Moldavia (about 1363-1668) and the Basarabids of Wallachia (about 1310-1627). The ancestor of the Basarabids was named Thocomerius; some identify him with Togatemür, great-great-grandson of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan (died 1227), others with a Slav named Tikhomir. Be that as it may, the best-known Basarabid was the bloodthirsty Vlad III, called Ţepeş (“the Impaler”) (died 1476), who was called Dracula (“son of the Dragon”) because his father was a Knight of the Hungarian Order of the Dragon. Bram Stoker took this nickname for the main character of his novel, and Queen Mary was descended from Dracula’s half-brother Vlad IV Călugărul (“the monk”) (died 1495).

135,060 Canadians claim Czech or Czechoslovak ancestry. The Czech Republic includes the old kingdom of Bohemia. The first historical ruler of Bohemia was Bořivoj I (died about 889), a direct ancestor of William. Indeed, William can trace his lineage to members of all of the principal dynasties that ruled Bohemia until the kingdom ended in 1918: the Přemyslids, Luxembourgs, Poděbrads, Jagiellons, Wittelsbachs, and Habsburgs. These include Boleslav I Ukrutný (“the Cruel”) (died 972), brother of St Václav I (died 935) whom we call “Good King Wenceslas.”

And so the Duke of Cambridge is related to both Dracula and Good King Wenceslas. That may be merely a curiosity, but there is no doubt that our Royal Family’s ancestry makes it a wonderful reflection of the Queen’s Canadian people in this year of her Diamond Jubilee.

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1860 Speech by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) at unveiling of monument marking where General Sir Isaac Brock died in the War of 1812.

“I have willingly consented to lay the first stone of this monument. Every nation may, without offence to its neighbours, commemorate its heroes, their deeds of arms and their noble deaths. This is no taunting boast of victory, no revival of long-passed animosities, but a noble tribute to a soldier’s fame; the more honourable, because we readily acknowledge the bravery and chivalry of that people by whose hand he fell.

I trust that Canada will never want such volunteers as those who fought in the last war, nor her volunteers be without such a leader; but no less and most fervently I pray that your sons and your grandsons may never be called upon to add other laurels to those which you have so gallantly won.”

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Garry Toffoli

Canada's Future: Monarchy or Republic?

The decision in 2021 by the former realm of Barbados to become a republic has stirred some commentary regarding its relevance to Canada. In short, there is little or no relevance, as the two countries, other than being part of the Commonwealth of Nations, are so vastly different – different histories, different demographics, different dimensions, different needs. The accession of a new monarch in 2022, King Charles III, has also led some critics of monarchy in Canada and around the Commonwealth to advocate their countries should become republics. Since the question has been raised, it is perhaps worth revisiting the fundamental differences between a monarchy and a republic and why Canada is a monarchy.

Two systemic problems always emerge in discussions of monarchy. Monarchy is treated as an issue. Monarchy is not an issue, it is an option – the issue is: “What form of government should Canada have?” One option is monarchy, the alternative is republic, and both should be analyzed in choosing between them. The second problem is that monarchy is invariably looked at superficially – that it’s about Canada’s British heritage, or tradition, or celebrity. These are aspects but they are not fundamental.

Monarchy, it must also be remembered, refers to the society itself, not to the Royal Family, the King or even the Crown. A country does not have a monarchy or a republic, or ties to these. It is a monarchy or a republic. Think how absurdly an American would regard a reference to the United States as having ties to the Republic. It is equally absurd to say Canada has ties to the Monarchy. Also, a republic is not synonymous with a democracy. Democracy and dictatorship are different exercises of power; monarchy and republic are different understandings of authority.

A country has three parts. There is the land, defined by territorial boundaries. There are the people, who inhabit the territory. There is the state. A state is the institutionalization of authority.

Any society should flow from, reflect and reinforce the qualities and characteristics of human life, because societies are humans living together. What are the primary characteristics of all human beings that should be present in the societies they live in? They are free choice, merit (or skills) and birth.

People have the right to decide how they will live their lives, constrained by some practical realities. Thus, some form of democracy is a fundamental human necessity in the exercise of state power by the political class.

Merit is the ability to develop and realize one’s skills. All people try, or should try, to achieve merit – for their own sake and to contribute to the various societies to which they belong. Judges, civil servants and other officials hold their places, and are accepted by others as doing so, because of the skills they offer. This too falls under the category of state power.

Democratic societies, whether monarchies or republics, can claim free choice and merit as characteristics, but it is the third characteristic of humans that provides the foundation for authority itself.

The human species and each human being, before they can exercise free choice and before they can acquire skills, must come into existence. Human existence depends on the hereditary principle of birth. Whether they have great or limited skills, make good or bad choices, people do not need to justify their existence. They exist because they exist, and that fact alone confers worth on them. To reject heredity as a principle is to reject humanity itself. To reject the inclusion of heredity in the identity of the state is to reject the human character of the state.

In a monarchy an abstraction, the state, is vested in a reality, a person, allowing other realities, people, to bring themselves together through a shared personal allegiance to the one person. This humanizes the state. In a republic one abstraction, the state, is vested in another abstraction, The People, to which real people are fused by a covenant. This deifies the state. Monarchists speak of “people” in a country. Republicans speak of “The People” of a country, turning humanity, which is by nature pluralistic, into something singular by artifice or ideology.

But just as humans have a balance of these three characteristics in their nature – hereditary birth, free choice and merit, so a society must have the three in balance – King, politicians, administrators. Because a monarchy has all three, it is a more human society than a republic. It is more complete and more balanced.

A monarch provides a country with a non-partisan embodiment of the state which no elected president, by the nature of the selection, can. One need only look to the United States where half the people refused for four years (2017 to 2021) to accept the elected president as a symbol of the whole country, or even as the legitimate president. This was not just the result of the personality and policies of the previous incumbent, Donald Trump, though he may have highlighted the problem. Now many Republicans reject Joe Biden as a legitimate president. As the Democrats did for four years, the Republicans are doing for four years. If the presidents were just heads of government and not also heads of state, this would not be the serious issue it is.

A modern republic, by its nature, politicizes and makes partisan all aspects of society, a trend that has accelerated in the twenty-first century through social media. Not all aspects of society should be politicized or partisan, yet all republican democracies veer in that direction. An elected president is a focus of power, and while power may tend to corrupt, there is no doubt it absolutely politicizes and is always partisan. The alternative of an appointed ceremonial president, and an elected prime minister, may, superficially, be seen as non-partisan for the former, but it has two handicaps. It is impossible for the person or entity making the presidential appointment to be truly non-partisan itself because that person, or the members of that entity, have to be elected or selected. The “non-partisan” president is more often than not regarded as the partisan agent of the appointing body, not truly non-partisan. An appointed president who is innocuous enough not to be controversial is, invariably, too innocuous to be inspiring or even relevant to a country.

The only truly non-partisan, non-political process for choosing the successful embodiment of the state is the hereditary process – the “accident of birth” as Prof. Jacques Monet has described it; that is, an hereditary monarch, occupying the position of authority in a country, while leaving the elected political figures to occupy their legitimate positions of power, where democracy and partisanship properly should dwell. Constitutional monarchies developed that necessary separation of authority and power over the past two centuries. Twenty-first century republics are oddly archaic, still clinging to the discredited eighteenth century belief that authority and power must be united in the same entity or source.

Canadian historian W.L. Morton explained that a fundamental difference between the United States and Canada is that, as a republic, the United States is united at the bottom by a covenant. Morton wrote that as a people of the covenant, this means three things for Americans: “The first is a need for a measure of uniformity; the covenant is among the like-minded. The second is that the covenant to a degree cuts the covenanted off from the uncovenanted. Third, the covenant implies not only uniformity and isolation, but also a mission. America is a messianic country periodically inspired to carry the republic into other lands. ... If the mission is denied, if the messianic complex is thwarted, then occurs that search for the domestic traitor, the uncovenanted.”

By contrast, Morton noted that “the moral core of Canadian nationhood is found in the fact that Canada is a monarchy and in the nature of monarchical allegiance. As America is united at the bottom by the covenant, Canada is united at the top by allegiance. Because Canada is a nation founded on allegiance and not on compact, there is no process in becoming Canadian akin to conversion, there is no pressure for uniformity, there is no Canadian way of life. Anyone ... can be a subject of the Queen and a citizen of Canada without in any way changing or ceasing to be himself. This is a truth so fundamental that it is little realized and many, if not most, Canadians would deny its truth, but it is central to any explanation or understanding of Canadian nationhood.”

Four interrelated types of covenants underpin modern republics, not only the United States but around the world – ethnicity/race, language, religion, ideology. Republics have at least one of these covenants as the basis of their unity. Some monarchies have had one or more of the covenants as well, but they are not essential to the unity or the survival of the monarchical state, as they are to republics. When the republican covenants come to an end, the countries break up, peacefully or through civil war.

Without the unity provided by totalitarian communism, after the fall of the Soviet bloc in the late twentieth century, Yugoslavia descended into civil war and chaos, and the current several ethnic Balkan countries of today. Czechoslovakia, though it moved into democracy, found there was no sustaining covenant between the Czechs and the Slovaks, so it too broke up, albeit peacefully, into ethnic republics. These republics had no monarchical allegiance at the top to hold them together. Similarly, when personal allegiance is ended in a monarchy, the monarchy will fall apart. The forced break up of Austria – Hungary by the victorious Allies through World War One propaganda, and the termination of Germany as a monarchy, also under Allied pressure, produced totalitarian republicanism in their place. Sir Winston Churchill eloquently explained this “gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones.”

The modern democratic republics of Europe, which Canadian republicans suggest we could emulate, are based on the covenants of ethnicity and language. France, Germany, Italy, Ireland are the countries of the ethnic and linguistic French, Germans, Italians and Irish. Faced with mass immigration from outside Europe in the twenty-first century, the covenants of these republics are being challenged as never before and may not hold. The monarchies of Europe are facing the same challenges in the twenty-first century as European republics, of course, but the countries are based on personal allegiance, so their prospects are better.

To return to Morton’s comparison of Canada and the United States, how has and does the latter, arguably the country most like Canada except for the monarchical / republican divide, address the four covenants?

In theory the United States is not based on an ethnic or racial covenant, though significant elements in the country, historically and today, have attempted to establish such a basis. It has been, and remains, a society embracing immigration, with disputes mostly over legal and illegal variants. Nor does it have a covenant of a single religion, though in a way that makes the United States exceptional among countries, as Americans themselves claim, the United States has established a secular religion consisting of a unique ideology.

Immediately following the American Revolution the United States did establish a covenant of language – the English language. Despite a large German population in the eighteenth century, the new republic consciously rejected recognizing the German, or any other, language. Even with the absorption of large Hispanic communities through conquest in the nineteenth century, Spanish has not been accepted as an official language, even though Hispanics are almost as large a percentage of the American population as French Canadians are of the Canadian population, and were once distinct communities in North America before they were conquered.

Ideology is the principal American covenant. What is the ideology of the United States? The American political scientist Louis Hartz described the country as a liberal fragment of European society transported to the New World, which isolated itself after the American Revolution from ideologies existing, developing and evolving in other parts of the world. What Hartz called fragmentation is what most Americans call and praise as American exceptionalism – that they are not like other countries.

Americans turned their history into this unique ideology and infused American secular institutions with religious imagery and sentiment. The United States is “a shining City on the Hill”, “a Promised Land” (the title of Barack Obama’s memoir). Their public institutions are frequently referred to as “sacred”. The American Flag is accorded the deference and protocol that originated with consecrated icons of the Church. Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln are revered as an American Holy Trinity – Father, Spirit and sacrificed Redeemer. Shrines, more than mere statues, were built to honour them.

For almost two and a half centuries this covenant has worked well for the United States as it built and sustained its identity as a republic and became a world power, with the obvious and critical exception of the 1861-1865 civil war and its repercussions that still linger today. But the American consensus on the covenant of the country and its history is breaking down. Many Americans no longer wish to improve the covenant, they are rejecting it altogether.

Most Canadians incorrectly view the divisions in the United States as political disputes between ordinary political parties, as they would be in Canada. The turmoil is more akin to a religious war. Trump was not the cause of this division but a product and expression of it. Trump’s supporters and his opponents are equally possessed by the imperative to either perpetuate the existing covenant or to establish new ones, not merely new policies. They see each other not just as political opponents but as the uncovenanted.

“If the mission is denied,” W.L. Morton noted, “if the messianic complex is thwarted, then occurs that search for the domestic traitor, the uncovenanted”. Morton wrote that more than half a century ago. He could have written it about Americans today. Unity in the United States will only be restored if and when Americans agree once again on what the covenant that unites them at the bottom will be.

Why does this matter for Canada? It matters because Canada has none of the four bases of a successful covenant, and thus has been, and can only be, united by allegiance, as Morton explained. Nor is there such a thing as Canadian exceptionalism, or the myth of such, upon which to construct a society. Canada’s secular institutions have remained secular and there exist no grounds to attribute divine characteristics to secular accomplishments. A republic may work for some countries, such as the United States, but it cannot work for Canada. Here one is faced with the historical and logical fact that the arguments for republicanism are the arguments against the existence of Canada. There can be republicanism in the northern half of North America or there can be Canada. There cannot be both. Human nature and history have made that impossible.

Like the United States, Canada is a country of immigration and does not have an ethnic or racial covenant. Unlike the United States, it has also recognized communitarian rights within the country, the so-called Canadian mosaic compared to the American melting pot. This goes beyond ethnic diversity. In Canada three distinct political societies are recognized – English Canada, French Canada and, albeit belatedly though based on the historic Royal Proclamation of 1763, indigenous nations. In religion, though Anglicanism was officially established in parts of British North America, there was always a duality of Anglicanism and Catholicism, due to the ethnic duality of English and French. Today that has evolved into extensive religious diversity and secularism, not a secular religion fabricated from Canadian history. Canada is an officially bilingual country, but even before the enactment of the Official Languages Act in 1969, bilingualism was recognized in the Constitution for Parliament and Dominion courts. There has always been bilingualism in many aspects of Canadian public life, including the interactions of the Royal Family in Canada.

History has denied Canada a covenant of ethnicity/race, religion or language, even if it wished one. That leaves ideology. But, unlike the United States, Canada does not have a covenant of ideology either, though political parties in Canada are not immune to the temptation of forcing their ideology on others. That is where a further role of the King comes into play. Another Canadian academic, Frank MacKinnon, explained that the Monarch’s importance is not that he or she wields power but that the Monarch, by holding authority, denies any political party or politician the right to impose its ideology on all others when exercising legitimate power while temporarily in office.

To convert Canada into a republic at least one of the four covenants must be established. That is the fact republicans in Canada ignore. They assume that Canada can change the structure of its state while otherwise remaining the same. It can’t. One major change would be the inevitable secession of Quebec. The distinct Province of Quebec can survive and flourish within a monarchy based on allegiance not covenant. An independent Republic of Quebec might survive in North America, based on the covenant of a single language and ethnicity. The Province of Quebec as a distinct society could not survive within a Republic of Canada and would either have to leave or wither. The Czechs and the Slovaks have understood that dynamic. The Americans understood it. Louisiana was a distinct society before it was absorbed into the United States. It is not today.

What of the status of First Nations? Republicans claim that all the duties of the Crown guaranteed to the First Nations would automatically be assumed by a republic. It is possible that a republic would assume them, but it would not be automatic and not certain. The argument for certainty is that, as Canada evolved in autonomy and then independence, the duties of the British Crown became the duties of the Canadian Crown. That is true, but the British Crown evolved into the Canadian Crown. If a republic were created, it would be a new authority, not a continuing one. The Supreme Court ruled that the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which recognized and protected First Nations inherent rights, still holds force in Canada. In 1763 not just Canada was covered by the proclamation. The Thirteen Colonies were also governed by it. (The Crown’s protection of First Nations was actually cited in the so-called Intolerable Acts by the rebels that led to the American Revolution.) When the American Republic was created, the Royal Proclamation ceased to have force in the United States. So, recognition of the rights of First Nations would not automatically carry forward in a Canadian republic. It would have to be renegotiated from scratch, and would be faced with the inherent republican bias toward conformity.

In addition, many First Nations in Canada have hereditary chiefs as well as elected chiefs, reflecting the same balance of authority and power concepts and traditions of constitutional monarchy as exist for Canada as a whole. Ending the monarchical identity of Canada would logically require and could only be implemented by eliminating these hereditary chiefs as well as the King of Canada.

Thus, a Canadian republic could not base itself on a single ethnicity or race, a single language (unless it expelled Quebec and suppressed the rights of Francophone Canadians outside Quebec), or a single religion. It would have to turn to the covenant of creating, and imposing, a new, single ideology on all Canadians, without even the American model of an historical myth to foster it. There would be a vacant throne to be usurped by some uncompromising ideology. No country in the world has ever been completely immune to the dangers that entails. Do Canadians wish to chance what ideology might crawl up on to the vacant Throne of Canada?

Over the past several decades Canada has made a good effort to Canadianize the attributes of the Crown – to ensure the evolution not revolution of our constitutional structure to accommodate and express the reality of Canada’s sovereign independence. That has been good, but some nationalists claim there must be a separate republican head of state, not a monarch shared with other realms. That is not true. Nationalism is not an argument for republicanism; it is, perhaps, an argument for a separate Canadian monarch. If separation is what Canadians desire, the solution is not to overturn Canada’s entire monarchical political structure and replace it with a foreign republican one, but to have succession to the Canadian Throne pass to a different descendant of King Charles III than in Britain.

The road of a separate monarch, if taken, would address any legitimate nationalist criticism of a shared monarch without undermining and eventually destroying the fundamental foundations of Canadian society. It would also be far simpler constitutionally than establishing a republic. All the necessary constitutional and legal institutions and physical and ceremonial structures for a separate monarch already exist in Canada and there would be no extra cost. Canada is currently a separate monarchy from the United Kingdom. It is a relatively small evolutionary step to a separate monarch, if preferred. Becoming a republic would be a giant revolutionary leap into the abyss.

If the path of a separate monarch were to be followed, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex would be the obvious, available and viable future monarch for Canada. He is the adult next to Prince William in the line of succession. Prince Harry has already chosen a North American life and might well have been still living in Canada if officialdom in Britain and Canada had been more flexible and imaginative in dealing with him than they were. He would probably be more comfortable with a royal role in the less rigid, North American monarchy that is Canada, than he was in the United Kingdom. He is not just a descendant of the recent Canadian and earlier British monarchs of Canada; through his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, he is a direct descendant of Henri IV of France, the King who founded the House of Bourbon, sent Champlain to this land, and reigned over Canada. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was born in North America and lived many years in Canada, the Duke for several months. They might well be persuaded to return if they were offered the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to Canada and prepare themselves for a future royal role in the country. With the appropriate appointment in 2021 of Mary Simon as the first indigenous Governor General to represent the Queen, and now the King, the apogee of non-royal viceregal appointments has been reached. At the end of her tenure in office it would arguably be time to advance the constitutional development of Canada with a designated Canadian royal prince at Rideau Hall, first as permanent Governor General for King Charles III’s reign and subsequently as the next monarch. The address of Rideau Hall is, perhaps prophetically, 1 Sussex Drive.

Whichever monarchical route Canadians might take – shared monarch or separate monarch – they should remember that the genius of monarchy is that it humanizes the state by vesting it in a person. To focus on the Crown as an abstraction rather than on the Sovereign as a person, as some contemporary monarchists argue, is as dangerous as republicanism itself. Embrace of virtual reality over reality undermines the essential ethos of monarchy – the embodiment of the state in a real person. To believe in the Crown merely as an abstraction is an anti-human perversion of monarchy that would not only fail to preserve Canada as a monarchy but will damage the human quality of Canadian life generally.

Vincent Massey, Queen Elizabeth II’s Representative as Governor General from 1952 to 1959, said, “During my time in Ottawa, everything possible was done to bring home the place of the Sovereign in our national life.” How to do that properly and most effectively in the future is the challenge Canadians face in the third decade of the twenty-first century.

Garry Toffoli is the author of numerous books and articles on the constitutional structures and history of the Canadian Monarchy. He is Vice-Chairman & Executive Director of The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust.

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A RESIDENT ROYAL FOR CANADA

Garry Toffoli

BACKGROUND

In the discussions and debates in Canada concerning the praise and criticism of constitutional monarchy the options presented are usually binary – maintaining the present non-resident monarchical structure or becoming a republic. While it has occasionally been mentioned as a variation of the former, there has been little, if any, serious consideration and analysis of the viability and procedure of adopting a cadet member of the royal family as resident monarch of Canada, though Prof. Frank MacKinnon did mention it in the 1970s. This royal variation should be looked at more closely.

Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the most famous and distinguished Fathers of Confederation, advocated in the summer of 1863 (“A Plea for British American Nationality” in The British American Magazine and in letters to the Montreal Gazette) and earlier in 1857 in the New Era, respectively four years and ten years before but anticipating Canadian Confederation, that one of Queen Victoria’s younger sons should be appointed the permanent viceroy of the new Kingdom of Canada within the British Empire. Eventually, that son and his descendants would reign as the monarchs of a Canada that would be an independent but associated realm, McGee advocated. This article will consider and then more fully develop McGee’s idea for Canada as a twenty-first century possibility.

The specific scenario to be considered therefore contemplates Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex becoming the permanent Governor General of Canada for the reign of King Charles III, then succeeding his father as King of Canada when his older brother Prince William, Prince of Wales becomes King of the United Kingdom.

There have been numerous examples in history of a once subordinate realm choosing a monarch from a cadet branch of the metropolitan monarchy’s royal family or a monarch from a cadet branch of the royal family of another kingdom. There are also examples of the royal family of a country changing either through natural succession, through conquest or through exclusion of the senior branch for religious or other reasons.

In Britain, the Stuarts were the natural successors of the Tudors in 1603. The Norman King William I took the Throne of England by conquest in 1066. Rejecting the more senior, Catholic, branches of the House of Stuart for the Protestant House of Brunswick (Hanover) in 1714 is an example in the third category, as is the abdication of King Edward VIII in favour of his younger brother King George VI in 1936.

Norway, Brazil, Greece, Mexico come immediately to mind as examples of the cadet scenario. Of these, Norway remains a success after more than a century; Brazil and Greece were successful for many decades before the crowns were overthrown for reasons that had nothing to do with the original choice of a resident monarch. On the other hand, Mexico was a clear failure in the 1860s. So there is no definitive answer to the question whether or not a country should proceed along such a path. Each case must be looked at individually, which this article attempts to do for Canada.

Is a shared or a resident monarch the preferred option?

Canada has always been part of a shared monarchical entity, but not in the sense that England and Scotland or Great Britain and Hanover shared the Sovereign. In those cases two independent kingdoms found themselves sharing the same monarch because their respective laws of succession resulted in the same person inheriting the two thrones. Eventually England and Scotland became one kingdom, while Great Britain and Hanover stopped sharing a monarch when Queen Victoria succeeded to the British Throne but could not succeed to the Throne of Hanover, which did not allow female monarchs.

Canada has shared a monarchical system, not just a monarch, with the other parts of international empires to which it belonged, once the English and French and then the British. As Canada gained full autonomy and then full independence after Confederation the single Crown of the British Empire, which it shared, did not divide but multiplied itself into the several Crowns of the King’s realms of today. Each new Crown therefore possesses the full characteristics of the original. It was a political process akin to binary fission of one cell into two cells, both exactly alike.

In Canada’s early evolution the choice between a shared or a resident monarch never seriously emerged, despite McGee’s view; a shared monarch was regarded as the natural situation. The advantages of a shared monarch were also well understood. First, Canada was simply not large enough in population nor sophisticated enough in its political maturity to justify the development of a separate monarch and royal family from the Imperial one. Secondly, the Empire was more than just a constitutional arrangement. It had very real social, political, economic and security dimensions that Canadians were part of and benefitted from. Thirdly, it provided the positive psychological benefit of linking Canadians to diverse peoples from around the world who shared with them the same monarch.

The obvious benefit of a resident monarch would be the continuous presence in the country of the Sovereign carrying out his or her duties on a regular basis. This would more fully make clear that a prime minister is not the head of the country, thereby reinforcing the non-political, non-partisan aspects of society and the essential distinction between authority and power. A resident monarch would also be able to travel the world on diplomatic visits, eliminating the current unfortunate practice of the Governor General, who is not the head of state, travelling the world on behalf of Canada as if she or he were. In addition, a resident monarch would more definitively express to Canadians and to the world that Canada is a North American monarchy in its own right and would enhance the existing royal nature of Canadian society through a monarch exclusively its own.

For most of Canadian history the advantages of a shared monarch outweighed those of a resident monarch, but that has perhaps changed in the past quarter century or so. The population of Canada, which was once a small fraction of Britain’s, is now 60% that of the United Kingdom and in absolute figures is over 40 million, almost exactly the population of the United Kingdom at the time of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and the height of the British Empire. Canada also has as sophisticated and diverse a population as any country in the world and more so than most. So on the basis of population Canada can easily support a resident monarch. Canadians also constitute 30% of the King’s subjects so, if a shared monarch is maintained, it is entitled to the monarch’s presence in Canada for 30% of the time. This is not going to happen. It is highly unlikely the United Kingdom would agree to giving up that much of the Sovereign’s time as its own resident monarch.

Regarding the second historical benefit, the British Empire is no more and neither the Commonwealth nor the United Kingdom alone play the social, political, economic or security roles in Canadian interests that they once did. Some of those ties may be reinvigorated now that the Brexit process is completed but it is unlikely they will return to their previous importance. More than a century ago our ancestors rejected the option of Imperial Federation, that is a federation of the dominions with the homeland into one oceanic country. Perhaps that was a mistake, perhaps the right decision. Today the realms of the King might have been provinces in one great realm with one common monarch rather than a shared monarch, but that is not how history evolved. While nothing is ever certain in predicting the future of the world, a federation of the several realms of the twenty-first century is highly unlikely. One must deal with the world as it is. Canada and the United Kingdom share a heritage, a “family” connection, friendship and economic and security ties, but not the full association of the British Empire. The shared monarch exists and would have to exist in the future without greatly significant economic or security bonds to reinforce it, and without those bonds the strength of a shared monarchmay well, and likely will, diminish, as it has already diminished.

The third benefit of a shared monarch, linking diverse peoples under a common King, is a strong one and would be a significant argument, but it has been diminished by actions within the Commonwealth itself. Originally the countries of the Commonwealth were united by the shared Sovereign. That changed with the admission of India as the first republic in the reign of King George VI and his adoption of the title “Head of the Commonwealth” to confirm that he exercised no sovereignty over the Commonwealth itself. Today the King is not a shared monarch except for 15 of the 56 countries in the community.

Has the Office of Governor General been an inherent benefit or a necessary limitation to the Canadian Monarchy?

Creation of the Office of Governor General was necessary in 1867 because it was obvious that Queen Victoria would not be living in Ottawa to carry out the duties of monarch in the newly created dominion that was still but a small part of the British Empire over which she reigned and the capital of which was in London. Before Confederation, at the time, and after Confederation, governors performed the role of representing not only the Sovereign but also the Imperial Government and thus had a place in the political power of the dominion as well as in the political authority. This ended in 1931 with the Statute of Westminster, which recognised the full autonomy and equality of the now several dominions with the United Kingdom, and confirmed the modified role of the Governor General as solely the representative of the Sovereign and no longer also of the Imperial Government.

After 1931 an anomaly was apparent, however, which has never been successfully addressed to this day. Previously, the Governor General had been appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Imperial Government. This provided an inherent independence for the office vis a vis the Canadian Government. After 1931 such advice was rightly considered constitutionally impossible. Arguably, the appointment should have been by the Sovereign without advice, since the Governor General was to be solely the representative of the King or Queen, but that was deemed not possible either, since the monarch had to act on some constitutional advice. Therefore the advice devolved upon the Canadian Government as the only constitutionally proper arrangement. However, it was unsuitable from a philosophically constitutional perspective, since the Sovereign’s representative was now dependent upon the nomination of the government of Canada in a way that the Sovereign was not dependent upon the government, either in the United Kingdom or in Canada. Such an arrangement would only work if the monarch played a more active and direct role in the government of Canada than prior to the passing of the Statute of Westminster, and the Governor General a lesser role. This would actually have been consistent with the intentions of 1867, but has not really been followed since 1931. For example, the last time the Sovereign opened the Canadian Parliament in person was in 1977, some forty-six years ago. It must be noted, however, that the fault for this lies primarily with the successive Canadian and British governments, which did not encourage such a development, not with the monarchs themselves.

When the Fathers of Confederation drafted the British North America Act, 1867 (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867) they carefully and intentionally wrote the Queen into the Act in the hope and expectation that she, or her successors, would actually play a personal role in carrying out her duties at some point. Thus, for example, the King, not the Governor General, is one of the three parts of Parliament. In the Confederation debates it was stated that the government was “to be administered ... by the Sovereign personally or by the Representative of the Sovereign duly authorised.” The office of Governor General was, therefore, not created to be an original and integral institution of Canadian society, but as a derivative one, necessary only because the Sovereign could not actually be present on a regular basis.

The Governor General is to the King as the moon is to the sun; reflecting, not generating light. When held by a person who recognised that, such as Vincent Massey, who said, “during my time in Ottawa everything possible was done to bring home the position of the Sovereign in our national life”, the office was a benefit. When used by an incumbent to undermine the monarch by exalting the office at the monarch’s expense, it was a detriment. The danger of the latter is always present for, as William Shakespeare noted, “The moon’s an arrant thief / And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.” In either case the office was never more than a necessary limitation on the Canadian monarchy, existing only because of a non-resident monarch, and could be dispensed with in favour of a resident monarch, generating no loss to the functioning of the Crown of Canada or to Canadian society.

The Governor General also shares some of the weaknesses of an appointed president: not being truly non-partisan because appointed on the advice of a partisan Prime Minister and, if controversial, offending those in society who disagree with and feel no inherent loyalty to the incumbent; if innocuous, not inspiring the country, regardless of the personal qualities of an incumbent. The only thing that shelters the Governor General from having the same institutional inadequacies as an appointed president is that she or he represents the Sovereign and can draw on the legitimacy and prestige of the monarch in carrying out viceregal duties.

In England and in Scotland the offices of Lord High Steward of England and Great Steward of Scotland, progenitors of the Governor General of Canada and once performing a similar role in those ancient kingdoms, were eventually seen as impediments to the proper operation of the realms and even as threats to the monarchs. These concerns were addressed by returning the office to the person of the monarch in England, except for the day of a coronation to carry the Crown of St Edward in the procession, and in Scotland by making the office an honorary one held by the heir to the throne. Monarchy has flourished in Britain since those actions were taken.

Canada and the Canadian people are as much the heirs of the British Empire and the Crowns of England, Scotland and pre-1931 United Kingdom as are the modern United Kingdom and the modern British people. Canadians are also the heirs of the royal French Regime. They are entitled to as complete an inheritance and richness of those royal heritages as their cousins in the United Kingdom or France. For this to be achieved it may now be necessary for Canada to take additional steps to a full, properly operating monarchy by retiring the office of Governor General, first by it being held by a royal heir to the King and then through its absorption into the person of a resident monarch.

Are there any other benefits to having a resident monarch?

Yes, there is a major one. Support for republicanism as a political system has never had much traction in Canada, either historically or today. The majority of Canadians have always supported a monarchical system for the country. It must be acknowledged, however, that a significantly large minority of Canadians have supported proposals to end Canada as a monarchy solely because they believe the “head of state” should be resident in the country. Most of those people assume that requires Canada becoming a republic. The variation of a resident monarch has never been explained in a systematic manner. The great danger for Canada, and it is a very real possibility that must be pre-empted, is that the nationalist spirit will become so persistent and strong that Canadians will opt for a republic for non-republican reasons of nationalism, and the Canadian monarchy will cease to exist altogether, despite the superior benefits of a monarchical system. A resident monarch would reconcile the very real monarchical and nationalist strains in Canadian society and prevent that tragedy from triumphing.

It cannot be ignored either that a resident monarch and royal family would add an element of glamour and prestige to Ottawa and Canada that would resonate in Canada’s image around the world, as it does for the United Kingdom and the other monarchies with resident monarchs. That type of glamour has not been provided by governors general except on three occasions: when the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise resided at Rideau Hall in the nineteenth century, when Princess Patricia, the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, lived there with her royal parents in the early twentieth century, and when the royal Athlones were the viceregal residents during the Second World War. The only other times of such glamour at Government House have been when King George VI, on one occasion, and Queen Elizabeth II on many occasions, or other members of the royal family, have been in temporary residence. Related to this element of glamour is the special “family” affinity people of a country feel toward the members of their royal family, whom they have seen grow up before becoming the monarch, an affinity which cannot be replicated toward any governor general or president.

Which member of the Royal Family would become the resident monarch?

There is one obvious, logical and available choice at this point in Canadian history – His Royal Highness Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. He is the second son of King Charles III, the fifth in line to the Throne and the senior adult royal after the Prince of Wales. Since the Prince of Wales now has three children (an heir and two “spares”), the Duke of Sussex will not be needed dynastically in the United Kingdom, and, now living in North America, apparently has no future in the United Kingdom or with the British Monarchy. However, this should in no way prevent him from having a royal future in Canada and the Canadian Monarchy, where he could perform an important role as, first, the Governor General of Canada and then, eventually, the resident King of Canada, rather than as a “junior” royal in the United Kingdom or an “exiled” private citizen in the United States. The address of Rideau Hall, the royal and viceregal home in Ottawa, is 1 Sussex Drive. It would seem natural that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should reside at 1 Sussex Drive.

PRACTICAL ISSUES OF A RESIDENT MONARCH

Undoubtedly, some people might question the practicality of a resident monarch in Canada even if, in principle, they believe it is a positive idea. The next part of this article will attempt to anticipate what the most important of those questions might be and to offer practical answers.

Would the presence of a resident monarch cause changes in the constitutional structure or practice in Canada?

No, it would not. Canada is currently a legally constituted monarchy with its own traditional and contemporary practices. Sovereignty is already vested in the monarch and all the constitutional laws and conventions as to how that sovereignty is exercised through democratic processes are firmly established and would remain unaltered. A resident monarch would simply carry out in person all the duties and roles now carried out by the Governor General in the name of the monarch and the roles currently carried out by the monarch in person when in Canada or, occasionally, from the United Kingdom.

Is the proposal for a resident monarch not disloyal to King Charles III?

No. As outlined in this article, the proposal is that Canada proceeds to a resident monarch in stages, by which Prince Harry, with his family, would become, first, permanent residents of Canada, then the Prince would be appointed in 2026 the permanent Governor General of Canada for the King and only become the monarch after King Charles III’s reign ends.

Would the symbols of Canada have to change with a resident monarch?

No, the existing symbols would continue to be used. There are already a royal coat of arms for Canada, a royal standard, a royal crown, a royal crest and a royal cypher belonging to the Canadian monarch and passed on from one Sovereign to the next. They would all continue unchanged, except for the natural alteration that would occur in the royal cypher with any new monarch, resident or not. Other national and provincial symbols, including the National Flag, would remain unchanged.

Where would the resident monarch and royal family live? There are no great palaces in Canada and Canadians cannot afford, and would not likely be willing, to build new ones.

While there may be no great palaces in Canada, in the sense of immense and spectacular residential buildings, there are already elegant royal residences used by the King’s representative, the Governor General – namely Rideau Hall in Ottawa and the Citadelle in Quebec City, which are also the official homes in Canada of the King. These would become the full-time royal residences for the Sovereign, as there would no longer be a governor general. This is what a palace actually is, and they are fully sufficient premises for a Canadian royal family, so there would be no more expense to maintain them than is currently the case.

There is no inherent level of expense or grandeur required for either a monarchy or a republic. The United Kingdom was once an “imperial” monarchy but it could now be described as an “upper class” monarchy. The United States, as a super power, has become an “imperial” republic. Canada may be best described as a “middle class” monarchy with a non-resident monarch. It would remain a “middle class” monarchy with a resident one. Frankly, it would also be a “middle class” republic if it became a republic. The cost of running the state would be unlikely to change in any significant way regardless of the route Canada took. As in the United Kingdom, the monarch might also choose to acquire private residences in other parts of the country, perhaps a ranch in Alberta, as King Edward VIII did, or a home in the highlands of Cape Breton. These would be positive developments for national unity, but they would not be a charge on the public purse, and would be more modest than those in Britain. The argument can be made, however, that a royal / viceregal residence in Western Canada would be so beneficial for national unity, separate from the question of a resident monarch, that it should be officially established now and publicly, not privately, funded. The Canadian Crown already owns the historic Bar U Ranch in Alberta (maintained by Parks Canada) which could serve this role at no major added expense. The case has also been made that the Governor General currently should have an official weekend cottage, as the Prime Minister has at Harrington Lake, and the same argument could legitimately be made for a resident monarch, but, if it happened, the cost would be relatively low and more than compensated for by the savings explained below. Kingston, Ontario, situated where Lake Ontario meets the St Lawrence River and the one time capital of pre-Confederation Canada, with historic Fort Henry, the “Citadel of Upper Canada”, would be a most appropriate location for such a residence. Kingston could easily be a Canadian Windsor.

Would there not be an increased cost for Canada in providing an income for a resident monarch?

No. The monarch would receive the salary and expenses allocation that are currently provided to the Governor General. There would actually be a decrease in the cost as a monarch reigns for life and so does not receive a pension. Currently, Canadians pay pensions and retirement expenses for five former governors general in addition to the salary of the incumbent, which would no longer be required in the future as there would be no more retired governors general after the current incumbent. There would also be a slight decrease in the costs of royal and viceregal tours as they would now all begin in Canada, eliminating the expense of an air flight from the United Kingdom in the former case and as the need for royal and viceregal tours would be combined into simply royal tours.

Haven’t the Sussexes made it clear that they do not wish to be senior members of the Royal Family and undertake royal duties? Why would they accept a Canadian role?

The Sussexes originally expressed a desire to continue carrying out some royal duties while living a more independent life, based in Canada. The Sussexes were uncomfortable with beings royals in the United Kingdom. Being royals in Canada, as they understood, would be different. Palace officials, not the Sussexes, determined that their plans could not be accommodated in Canada, ignoring the historical fact that there had been such accommodation in the past for some members of the Royal Family. King Edward VIII, who conducted a commercial ranching business in Alberta while Prince of Wales was just one example. As a result the Sussexes, who moved first to Canada, only moved to California, when no viable security arrangements for them to work in Canada were facilitated. The Palace’s decision does not bind the Canadian Government, which should have made its own arrangements in 2020 for the Sussexes to stay in Canada and be able to conduct some royal duties. This could, and should, be corrected and the Sussexes might well accept such an offer.

Prince Harry has publicly criticised other members of the Royal Family, Palace officials and some aspects of British life, which has upset some people. Is this not a problem?

The personal issues in the Royal Family are not much different from those that exist in many other families in all levels of society, and have existed in the Royal Family in the past. The Prince has not been critical of Canada or Canadian life, which is what is relevant to a Canadian royal residence. The Sussexes living in Canada might actually alleviate the issues. [For a more detailed analysis, check out my review of Prince Harry’s book Spare elsewhere on this website.]

Would there be an immediate benefit for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in coming back to live in Canada?

The British tabloid press and social media are relentless and notorious for trying to generate controversy and exaggerate the natural failings of people in public life, royal or otherwise. This happened to the late Diana, Princess of Wales and to the Duchess of York. This critical coverage has continued since the Sussexes moved to the United States. While Canada is not immune to such media behaviour, it is less pronounced in this country than in the UK or the US. The expectations for rigid formality in public life are also happily lower in Ottawa and Canada. The Sussexes would be able to live a more relaxed and private family life as well as a more practical royal life in Canada.

What other reasons would the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have to choose a life in Canada?

If the Canadian Government and people decided it was the right decision for the future of Canada to have a royal governor general, then a resident monarch, and made the request, the first reason for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to accept the invitation would be duty. They are already members of the Royal Family of Canada with a vocation of serving the interests of Canada. But it would not be a negative sacrifice for duty. While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might well lead lives that would be fulfilling in the United States, a move to Canada would be more productive. All the charitable activities they could carry out based in the US could as easily be conducted based in Canada. In addition to those activities, however, there would be added the benefit and responsibility of playing a significant constitutional role in the government of a country, i.e. Canada; a responsibility they would not be, and could not be, afforded anywhere else.

The royal couple would, of course, have the prestige, as well as the responsibility, of being the viceregal and eventually reigning family of a major country. Canada is geographically the second largest country in the world and the thirty-seventh largest in population. It is the largest monarchy geographically and the fifth largest monarchy in population. The royal couple would know that their eldest child, Archie, would also have that vocation to inherit, while in the United Kingdom or the United States he would have no significant royal vocation awaiting him. Also, since Canada is a federal country with provincial representatives of the monarch, there would be opportunities for the heir to the throne and other descendants of the monarch to carry out viceregal governmental roles at the provincial level. These opportunities do not exist in the United Kingdom. In short, Canada offers more potential for members of a royal family to play non-political constitutional roles, in addition to social roles, than does the United Kingdom, but also, perhaps, in a more personally informal and modest manner. Canada is, in many ways, the best country in the world to be the resident monarch of, and in which to raise a family.

Wouldn’t the Duke and Duchess of Sussex find Ottawa a rather inadequate place to live compared to London or Los Angeles?

Any comparison of countries or cities must inevitably be subjective but, while one can only speculate on the views of the royal couple, some favourable comparisons can perhaps be offered. First, Canada is a very large country geographically compared to the United Kingdom, and distances that are considered great in the latter country are considered small in the former. Also, London is the major city of the United Kingdom as well as being its capital. Ottawa is the capital of Canada but Toronto is the largest city and not that distant from Ottawa in the context of Canadian geography. Montreal is even closer to Ottawa than Toronto. The population and significance to Canada of metropolitan Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal combined is comparable to the population and significance of metropolitan London to the United Kingdom, and, in the Canadian context, those cities would be the principal geographical home, like London, of a resident monarch. It might therefore be more helpful to compare the three Canadian urban centres combined to London in determining what they have to offer. They provide a more favourable comparison for the former, and they measure very well on almost all criteria of urban centres. On its own, though, Ottawa is still a large, sophisticated and beautiful city in which to live.

Canada, as a whole, both urban and rural, also has many exceptional cities and communities across a whole continent and therefore has at least as much, if not more, to offer than the United Kingdom. The Duke of Sussex has been to several parts of Canada already and has seemed quite at home. The Duchess of Sussex is a North American by birth and upbringing and lived in Toronto for seven years. Coming to reside in Canada would be coming back home for her.

While Rideau Hall is not Buckingham Palace, in many ways it may be a better home in which to live and raise a family, even a royal one. Its extensive grounds, while partly open to the public, are located in a residential area and provide a more private home than the grounds of Buckingham Palace, which are encircled by heavy urban traffic. Rideau Hall combines both the attributes of an urban and a rural home.

The second royal home in Canada, the Citadelle in Quebec City, provides what Lord Dufferin, the first Governor General to reside there, called “a view unique in the world”. This residence in old Quebec provides a distinct contrast and supplement to life in Ottawa. It offers a comparable experience to the royal residence in Edinburgh, Scotland. In some ways it might be said to be a city made for royalty.

The constitutional, political and ceremonial life of Canada in its capital of Ottawa, having derived from the United Kingdom, while having become distinctly Canadian, also retains sufficient similarity to its British roots that the Duke of Sussex would have no problem immersing himself in that life. For starters, the parliamentary institutions and practices, including the Opening of Parliament, which a resident monarch would of course conduct, are essentially the same as in the Mother of Parliaments at

Westminster. Even the Gothic architecture of the Parliament Buildings echoes that at Westminster. The structure, traditions and pageantry of the Canadian Armed Forces also mirror those of the United Kingdom and would be known to the Duke of Sussex, who served in the British Army and trained in Canada.

While the resident monarch and consort would be devoting their lives to Canada, they would not have to cut all their ties with the United Kingdom and the United States. The residence of the British High Commissioner and the new High Commission building are near neighbours to Rideau Hall on Sussex Drive. The American Embassy, and ambassador’s residence, are also not a great distance away on Sussex Drive and in Rockcliffe Park respectively. Canada House in London would provide the royal couple with a Canadian home in the capital of the United Kingdom when they visited that country officially or privately. The royal couple might also maintain a private holiday home in the United States, as do other well-to-do Canadians.

Where would the children of the monarch and other descendants live as adults?

There are several other modest, but satisfactory, houses on the grounds of Rideau Hall that could be used by children of the monarch when they become adults, which would not happen for almost a quarter century in any case. Eventually, for example, Rideau Cottage, currently the temporary home of the Prime Minister, could become the home of the heir to the throne. Being on the grounds of Rideau Hall, there would not even be an additional security cost and the heir would have easy access to the state rooms of Rideau Hall for public functions. Half a century from now, adult grandchildren of the monarch, other than children of the heir who could also be accommodated on the grounds of Rideau Hall, would not be provided with official homes.

What about the costs for other members of the royal family?

As with residences, this would not be an issue for a quarter century, when there would be adult members. They would then only receive the same salaries for any public duties they might undertake as the persons who would otherwise hold the positions in the public realm, so there would be no added expense. If they worked in the private sphere they would receive no public funding.

What would be the public occupations of the other members of a resident royal family?

In public service, roles would probably be membership in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard or the diplomatic service. The heir to the throne would serve as lieutenant governor of the several provinces in turn as an adult. Undertaking only two or three years in all the provinces would require twenty to thirty years and the experience would prepare the heir for the eventual duties of monarch. Other members of the royal family might also serve full five year tenures as lieutenant governors from time to time. They would receive the salaries appropriate to those positions while in office, and live in the provincial government houses, so there would be no added expense to the taxpayers.

How large would the royal family be?

Not large. Initially it would consist of just the Sussexes and their children. In about a quarter century grandchildren would also be included, but, as in the United Kingdom currently, great grandchildren would not be members of the official royal family other than those who were grandchildren of the heir to the throne.

Would there be royal titles for the members of a resident royal family and would they be passed on from generation to generation, creating a Canadian hereditary titled aristocracy in addition to a royal family?

Children of the monarch and children of the heir to the throne would be Princes / Princesses of Canada and Royal Highnesses, titles and designations Canadians are already familiar with and which are currently used officially in Canada for the children and some grandchildren of the Sovereign of Canada. Other grandchildren (children of younger sons and daughters) could be either Royal Highnesses or Lord and Lady for life, and not pass on the designation to their children. Great grandchildren would have no titles. Although not a necessity, if the titles of Duke and Duchess were deemed appropriate for children of the monarch and children of the heir, they could be for life only and not hereditary. The Royal Family in the United Kingdom is already moving in this direction regarding titles. So there would be no hereditary titled aristocracy created in Canada.

Where would the children of the royal family be educated?

That would be up to the royal family to determine and the academic fees would be paid by the royal family, not come from the public purse. There are several excellent private schools in Canada to choose from. Among them are Ashbury College in Ottawa, if a local school is preferred, and Lakefield College near Peterborough (which Prince Andrew, Duke of York and King Felipe of Spain attended). When it came to higher education, Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario would be particularly appropriate, especially for the heir to the throne. Unlike British service colleges, RMC is a university, and grants degrees, so it would be suitable even for a member of the royal family who did not go on to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. RMC is also a tri-service college so it would lead to service in any of the branches of the Armed Forces. Finally, the existing security at RMC would obviate the need for added security at another university. However, there are many universities throughout Canada that could be chosen.

Wouldn’t a resident monarch deprive other Canadians of the opportunity to be a viceroy?

No. While there would no longer be the office of Governor General to fill, there would still be the offices of provincial Lieutenant Governors, which might only occasionally be filled by a member of the royal family and would primarily be occupied by other Canadians. Under a resident monarch, as direct representatives of the Sovereign, rather than indirect representatives through the Governor General, the Lieutenant Governors would actually be elevated to provincial Governors and be addressed as “Your Excellency”, as current Governors General are, so their status, and the prestige of the Canadians holding the offices, would be enhanced. The provincial role is also easier for most Canadians to undertake because it does not require the upheaval in their lives of a move to Ottawa, as provincial capitals are much closer to the homes of most people who might be appointed to a viceregal position.

How would a resident monarch impact indigenous peoples?

In a positive way. The treaties of the First Nations are with the Sovereign, and the obligations to respect the inherent rights of indigenous peoples lay with the Crown. This was enunciated in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 by Prince Harry’s sixth great-grandfather, King George III, and confirmed in the Constitution Act, 1982, proclaimed by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Having the Sovereign in the future permanently present in Canada and able to interact personally with the indigenous peoples not only from time to time, as members of the Royal Family have willingly done for generations whenever present on tours or limited residences, but on a regular basis, would only strengthen and emphasise those ties and rights. Also, the concept of hereditary chiefs is inherent in the governance of many First Nations, so monarchy is not only a British and French concept in Canada but also an indigenous one. Finally, indigenous symbols and regalia could, and should, be integrated into distinctive Canadian royal regalia borne or used by a resident monarch.

What would be the benefit for French Canada and Quebec of a resident monarch?

Through their mother’s ancestry, Prince William and Prince Harry became the first members of the immediate royal family to be directly descended from the French Royal House of Bourbon, which reigned over Quebec and much of what is now Canada from 1589 until 1763. A resident monarch of French as well as British descent, as Prince Harry would be, would reinforce the French element in Canada’s identity, and specifically in the embodiment of the state, on a permanent basis. As a royal home in Canada would be the Citadelle in Quebec City, a resident monarch living part of the year there would further enhance the importance of Quebec’s place in Confederation, Quebec City’s status as a royal city, and make clear that the Canadian monarchy is a product of Canada’s French Canadian heritage and character as well as of Canada’s English Canadian heritage and character.

Should the Canadian “head of state” not represent the ethnic and racial diversity of Canada?

Prince Harry does. He is descended from over forty different ethnic and racial groups, including almost all those backgrounds found in modern Canada. In addition, the Duchess of Sussex is a North American by birth, of biracial ancestry, who lived in Toronto for seven years. Their children, including the subsequent monarchs, have inherited her ancestry as well as that of the Prince.

Prince Harry’s ancestry includes the following: Albanian; Arab; Armenian; Austrian; Babylonian; Belgian; Bohemian; Bosnian; Bulgarian; Chinese; Croatian; Cuman; Czech; Danish; Dutch; East Indian; English; French; German; Greek; Hungarian; Iranian; Irish; Italian; Jewish; Khazar; Lithuanian; Moldovian; Mongolian; Moorish; Norwegian; Polish; Portuguese; Romanian; Russian; Serbian; Scottish; Spanish; Swedish; Ukrainian; and Welsh.

While not having First Nations ancestry, the Royal Family, both personally and institutionally, have maintained close ties with the First Nations of Canada for generations and all treaties are between the First Nations and the Sovereign. That is an inheritance which would be carried by the Duke of Sussex if he became the resident monarch. Also, in future his descendants might well acquire a First Nations ancestry through marriage.

Does Prince Harry have enough Canadian connections to support his becoming the Sovereign of Canada?

Yes he does. He is descended from, or directly related to, all the British and French monarchs of Canada since 1497, the year the Canadian monarchy is deemed to have begun. In addition to being the fourth great-grandson of Queen Victoria, the Mother of Confederation, he is the sixth great-grandson of King George III, the first Sovereign over all of Canada, who gave refuge to the United Empire Loyalists, and he is the 11th great-grandson of King Henri IV of France, founder of the House of Bourbon and the monarch who sent Samuel de Champlain, the Father of Canada, to found Quebec City.

In addition to his father the King, fourteen of the Duke’s ancestral fathers and mothers were monarchs of Canada. They are: Elizabeth II [1952-2022]; George VI [1936-1952]; George V [1910-1936]; Edward VII [1901-1910]; Victoria [1837-1901]; George III [1760-1820]; George II [1727-1760]; George I [1714-1727]; James II [1685-1689]; Charles II [1649-1685]; Charles I [1625-1649]; James I [1603-1625]; Henry VII [1497-1509]; and Henri IV of France [1589-1610].

Moreover, nine ancestral uncles and aunts were monarchs of Canada. They were: Edward VIII [1936]; William IV [1830-1837]; George IV [1820-1830]; Anne [1702-1714]; William III [1689-1702]; Mary II [1689-1694]; Henry VIII [1509-1547]; Louis XIII of France [1610-1643]; and Francois I of France [1534-1547].

The remaining ten monarchs of Canada since 1497 were ancestral cousins: Elizabeth I [1558-1603]; Philip I [1554-1558] (co-sovereign with Mary I); Mary I [1553-1558]; Edward VI [1547-1553]; and the following French kings of Canada: Louis XV [1715-1763]; Louis XIV [1643-1715]; Henri III [1574-1589]; Charles IX [1560-1574]; Francois II [1559-1560]; and Henri II [1547-1559].

Prince Harry’s fifth great-grandfather, Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, was the Governor-in-Chief of British North America (Canada) from 1818-1819. He died in Canada in 1819 and is buried in the Anglican Cathedral in Quebec City. Another fifth great-grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the father of Queen Victoria, lived in Canada for a decade from 1791 to 1800, was Commander in Chief of British North America (the office now combined with that of Governor General) from 1799-1801, and an early promoter of Canadian Confederation.

Among the other governors of Canada were several ancestral uncles and cousins:

His ancestral uncles were: Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone (until 1917 Prince Alexander of Teck) [1940-1946]; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn [1911-1916]; John Campbell, Marquis of Lorne [1878-1883]; John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham [1838]; Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada [1818-1828] and of Nova Scotia [1828-1834]; and possibly Samuel de Champlain [1627-1635]. (According to Algonquin First Nation oral history, Champlain told the Algonquin chiefs that he was the natural son of King Henri IV of France. If true, that would make Champlain the tenth great-granduncle of Prince Harry.)

Ancestral cousins of Prince Harry who served as governors were: Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire [1916-1921]; Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey [1904-1911]; and James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin [1847-1854], who implemented responsible government in Canada.

The Duke of Sussex is also the thirteenth great-grandson of Marguerite, Queen Consort of Navarre, who wrote the first story set in Canada – one of the tales in her anthology, Heptameron. It is a narrative of a couple marooned on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Queen Marguerite was an outstanding figure of the French Renaissance, and has been described as “the first modern woman”.

Prince Harry is the eighth generation of his family to come to Canada. Since 2007 he has been in Canada longer than any current member of the Royal Family. Before deploying to Afghanistan as a soldier, he trained at Canadian Forces Base Suffield in Alberta. In 2017 the Prince’s Invictus Games were held in Toronto and the 2025 Games will be held in Vancouver. He spent several months from November 2019 to March, 2020, with the Duchess and their son Archie, based in Canada, before they moved to Los Angeles.

Becoming the resident monarch would be a development for the sake of the future, not the past, in any case. Building on the rich heritage outlined above, once permanently resident, the Duke of Sussex, and his family, would become fully Canadian as the years passed.

Prince Harry is an international celebrity. Would that be positive or negative if he were a resident King of Canada?

To some people a celebrity is just a famous, or an infamous, person whom people gawk at. The Latin root of the word is, in fact, the same as for celebrant. A royal celebrity, such as Prince Harry, is truly a celebrant, that is a person responsible for conducting public celebrations. That sort of celebrity, which Prince Harry is now, and would be as Governor General and later King of Canada, is very much a positive attribute. He would not only be a celebrity for Canada, but he would attract international attention for the country, making Canada more of a celebrity itself, enhancing its prestige and prominence among the countries of the world.

Would the Canadian people accept a resident monarch?

Canadians would accept a resident monarch on the same basis that they would accept, and have accepted, other natural changes to national institutions and practices. That basis is if provided the change is an improvement over the status quo, that it is a viable change that is fiscally responsible, that it is compatible with and enhances Canadians’ identity in North America as a society distinct from the United States without impairing the country’s friendly and beneficial economic, security and social relationship with that neighbour, and that it fosters national unity. As explained in the preceding sections of this article, a resident monarch would meet all those tests.

Would the change to a resident monarch require a constitutional amendment?

This is currently unclear.

The appointment of the Duke of Sussex as the permanent Governor General would entail no constitutional change, it would just follow the current procedure. The appointment of the Governor General is at the pleasure of the Sovereign on the advice of the Canadian Government. It has traditionally been for between five and seven years but there is no fixed term and its length has just been a custom. The appointment could last for decades or a lifetime.

Regarding an eventual separate monarch, the Supreme Court of Canada has not made a ruling but rulings of lower courts suggest certain answers. The Quebec Court of Appeal, for example, held that succession to the Throne is not covered by Section 41 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which requires unanimous consent of the Senate, House of Commons and all provincial legislative assemblies for changes to the Office of the King. It maintained that the section refers to the existence and powers of the Office of the King, not to determining who succeeds to the Office. It maintained that the application of the preamble of the Constitution Act, 1867, which states that Canada was united “under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” is still in effect, even though that Crown has been changed to “Northern Ireland” in the UK, that the monarch of the United Kingdom is therefore the monarch of Canada, and that changes to the succession are determined by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and only require the assent of the Canadian Parliament, not the provincial assemblies, to the British act.

The speculative theory behind that ruling purports “a rule of recognition” of the Sovereign of the British Crown by the Canadian Crown, rather than the view that British succession laws were inherited by Canada and are part of Canadian law. The theory of recognition was previously unknown in Commonwealth law, for which there are no precedents, and was rejected by Australia and New Zealand for their realms, who determined that the British laws of succession had been inherited and thus incorporated into their domestic laws, a position which Canada had also previously held for decades.

A constitutional amendment may therefore be necessary to change the preamble to the Constitution Act, 1867 to replace Crown of the United Kingdom with Crown of Canada to eventually establish a resident monarch separate from the monarch of the United Kingdom, but such an amendment could be passed, and it may not require provincial assent. It is also possible that the Parliament of the United Kingdom could further redefine the Crown of the United Kingdom in Right of Canada in British law, as it has done in the past, so that succession to that Throne for Canada is renounced by Prince William in favour of Prince Harry in such a way that the change would only require the assent of the Parliament of Canada, as happened with the changes in the Succession to the Throne Act of 2013, for succession to the Throne of Canada to pass to Prince Harry.

CONCLUSION

The establishment of a resident monarch of the House of Windsor in Canada would in no way be a repudiation of Canada’s British heritage nor of its familial relationship with the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom would remain a sister realm and one of Canada’s closest friends in the world. In the first generation the monarchs of the two countries would be brothers. In the second generation they would be first cousins and in the third generation they would be second cousins.

This article has attempted to show that, should Canadians and their Royal Family agree that a separate monarch for Canada from within the Royal Family is a desirable development, it is one that is quite feasible from an implementation perspective and would produce many beneficial results. Such a step would not be a radical departure from existing Canadian governance either, but, in fact, a natural evolution.

In 1867 Sir John A. Macdonald, on behalf of his fellow Canadians, declared in person to Queen Victoria that the purpose of Confederation was “to declare in the most solemn and emphatic manner our resolve to be under the sovereignty of Your Majesty and your family forever”. In the twenty-first century Canada and Canadians deserve more than merely a governor general in Ottawa. A resident Canadian monarch, descended from Queen Victoria, that is to say Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, may be the surest guarantee that Sir John’s pledge will be upheld into the future and that the hopes for Canada of Thomas D’Arcy McGee will be realised.

Garry Toffoli is the author or editor of ten books on the Canadian Monarchy, has written or contributed to seven other books, and has had articles published by several journals and newspapers, including the Canadian Parliamentary Review. He has appeared as a witness before parliamentary and legislative assembly committees, and lectured and been a media commentator across Canada for over four decades on royal and constitutional history and practices.

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The Enduring Crown Commonwealth

The Past, Present, and Future of the UK-Canada-ANZ Alliance and Why It Matters

MICHAEL J. SMITH AND STEPHEN KLIMCZUK-MASSION - FOREWORD BY ANDREW ROBERTS

The controversial Netflix series The Crown covers the tumultuous period from the Queen’s accession in 1952 to the present day, and so does this book, which explores the rise, decline and—to some—unexpected rebound of the historic UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand alliance. While a post-Brexit and post-Elizabethan Britain seeks a new role in today’s volatile world, its traditional partner countries also recognise the logic of reinvigorating their relationship, based on a multitude of still-strong cultural, economic, political, and military ties, including the monarchy as a uniquely shared global, and not merely British, institution.
But this wasn’t always the case. Although in the 1950s commentators spoke of a new "Elizabethan Age" with much postwar hope across the Commonwealth, that optimism quickly faded. By the 1970s, many thought Britain washed up and that Crown and Commonwealth ties and allegiance were becoming obsolete. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the four countries increasingly went their separate ways. So, a groggy time-traveller from that period appearing in London, Toronto, Sydney, or Auckland today would be taken by surprise by the durability of the Crown, even as it has passed to King Charles, and the growing reconvergence of the four "CANZUK" realms in terms of trade, defence, foreign policy coordination, freedom of movement, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, and other new or revived links.
This book evocatively tells the whole story of where we are, what’s possible for the future, and not least how we got here. In today’s age of global instability and raw power politics, this renewed Anglosphere Crown Commonwealth alliance is more important and relevant than ever.

The Enduring Crown Commonwealth: The Past, Present, and Future of the UK-Canada-ANZ Alliance and Why It Matters

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40th Anniversary of the Constitution Act, 1982

Garry Toffoli

April 17th,,2022 marked the 40th anniversary of the Queen’s proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982, in a rainy outdoor ceremony on Parliament Hill, Ottawa in front of thousands of people. The event was a significant one in Canada’s constitutional evolution, but misunderstood by many at the time and today. The ceremony has been sometimes described as the British Queen “giving” Canada its constitution and independence. In fact it was the Queen of Canada “receiving” the Constitution Act from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The ceremony was the culmination of a process called “patriation” of the Constitution, the purpose of which was to adopt a completely Canadian amending formula and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution itself. The existing Canadian Bill of Rights was an ordinary act of the Canadian Parliament, passed in 1960.

The British North America Act, 1867 (renamed the Constitution Act, 1867) was almost completely written by the Canadian Fathers of Confederation but, of necessity, passed by the UK Parliament. The only changes made by the Imperial Government were a technical item regarding the Senate and rejection of the Canadian-chosen title “Kingdom of Canada” as too provocative to Americans, who were opposed to the creation of Canada and speculating about invasion. The Canadians rejected “Province of Canada”, suggested by the UK, and created “Dominion of Canada” as a synonym for Kingdom.

The BNA Act empowered the Parliament of Canada to amend provisions solely in its jurisdiction and the provinces to do the same for solely provincial matters. Amendments that affected both Ottawa and the provinces required an act of the UK Parliament only because the Canadians could not agree among themselves on a domestic formula. The UK Parliament also retained control of international affairs.

In 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised Canada’s full independence from and equality with the United Kingdom in international law and affairs. The UK Parliament retained the power to amend the BNA Act, but now only with the request and consent of Canada, as Canadians could still not agree on a solely Canadian amending formula. In 1982 a formula was finally agreed upon.

An act of the UK Parliament was still required constitutionally to make the changes of 1982. The UK Parliament could have passed the Constitution Act, 1982 directly, as it did the BNA Act, 1867. The Canadian Government desired a public ceremony it could stage in Ottawa, however, and a document it could present as having come into effect in Canada. Therefore, the UK Parliament passed the Canada Act, 1982, which stated that no further British acts would extend to Canada and included the Constitution Act, 1982 as a schedule to rather than a direct part of the Canada Act. This schedule of the British-passed act would only come into force when proclaimed by the Queen as Queen of Canada. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a section of the Constitution Act, 1982, itself a schedule to the Canada Act, 1982, which remains a British act.

Thus the stage was set for the impressive ceremony on Parliament Hill featuring Her Majesty, with the Canadian Thrones of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh brought outside from the Senate of Canada chamber. In contrast to 1867, neighbourly congratulations and best wishes were sent to the Queen by Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. Her Majesty replied, “This has indeed been an historic day for me as Queen of Canada and for my Government and people of Canada. We are delighted to know that our celebrations are shared by our close friend and neighbour.”

There remains an irony to the ceremony. It took 115 years to agree on an all-Canadian amending formula for matters affecting Ottawa and the provinces, which was deemed essential for Canada’s maturity as a country. However, except once in 1983 for an amendment concerning indigenous peoples, in the forty years since the Constitution’s “patriation”, Canadians have avoided using the formula for amendments involving all the provinces by declining to make any amendments that would “open up” the Constitution.

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The Coronation Oaths of the Three Monarchs

Since the Statute of Westminster in 1931

1937 Coronation Oath administered to King George VI at Coronation Ceremony in Westminster Abbey (not including the British religious section)

Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, and of your Empire of India, according to their respective Laws and Customs?

Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

1953 Coronation Oath administered to Queen Elizabeth II at Coronation Ceremony in Westminster Abbey (not including the British religious section)

Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon, and of your Possessions and the other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?

Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

2023 Coronation Oath administered to King Charles III at Coronation Ceremony in Westminster Abbey (not including the British religious section)

Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, your other Realms and the Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?

Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

Canadian Citizenship Oath

I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, King of Canada, his Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including the Constitution, which recognises and affirms the aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

Proposed Canadian Coronation Oath to be administered to King Charles III at a Coronation-style Ceremony in Ottawa.

Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of Canada, its Provinces and Territories, according to their laws and customs, including the Constitution, which recognises and affirms the aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples?

Will you to your power cause law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgements?

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Monarchy in Movies

Garry Toffoli

Starting this article, I must pay tribute to the late Elwy Yost, with whom more than one generation of Ontario schoolchildren spent their late afternoons or early evenings in front of a television set. From the 1960s Passport to Adventure series, through the 1970s and 1980s Magic Shadows and the evening series, which adults shared called Saturday Night At The Movies and which ran for a quarter century, Mr Yost inculcated a love of movies in so many.

I had the pleasure of meeting Elwy Yost once, when I was the Toronto Chairman of the Monarchist League and I had invited him to be guest speaker at our annual dinner. His topic was Kings and Queens at 24 Frames a Second, the theme that I will be discussing in a somewhat different fashion in this article. It was a wonderful experience. During dinner, as we sat together at the head table, before he gave his formal speech, he regaled me with anecdotes about movies. The event was in the Ballroom of the Royal York Hotel and, since that evening, I have never been able to see the room as I had before.

If one is familiar with the Ballroom, there is a faux concourse level along one length, with arched alcoves closed by drapes. I think it is still there. It’s been a few years since I was in the room. The head table was along the other side, facing these raised arches. Elwy suddenly said to me, “Garry, those arches remind me of the movie, The Drum. Remember, the British soldiers are invited for a dinner and are lined up at tables along one side of the room, as we are at this head table, and, on the other side, in the arches, machine guns are hidden to shoot them? I’m looking at those arches now and expecting to see the machine guns hidden behind them revealed at any moment to start firing at us.” I knew the movie he meant. It was a 1938 film produced by Sir Alexander Korda and starring Sabu, Raymond Massey and Roger Livesey. I had probably seen it on one of his shows. It had a sort of royal theme – about the Empire and native royalty in India. Well, there were no machine guns that evening, but Elwy Yost’s thoughts remain with me. Every time I have been in that room since, I have looked up at the arches to see if the curtains move to reveal guns behind them. Such is the impact that a movie can have on one’s imagination.

Cinema is a relatively new medium; being somewhat more than a century old in a human history of many thousands of years. The purpose of cinema is not new, however. It is story telling, which has probably been part of human culture from the beginning. In the past century one can see that there are three possibilities of story telling – the written word, the oral expression and the visual. We have gone from the novel (the written word) to silent films (the visual), then radio dramas (the oral), to talkies (a combination of oral and visual). So the visual, or at least the visual combined with the oral, may be seen as the more modern means of story telling. But that has not been historically the case, prior to the 20th century. Long before our ancestors learned how to write and read and to thereby tell written stories, they were conveying their stories orally. That is the older medium. And it is more than probable that our most primitive ancestors, who had not yet developed the ability to speak, as we understand speech today, were still able to tell stories to each other by re-enacting how they slew an animal or an enemy.

Thus, the three media have existed side by side for many centuries – novels, of course, but theatre (combining the oral and the visual, as movies do) as well. Ballet, and other forms of dance, if one does not include the music, is an entirely visual medium, but capable of expressing quite sophisticated stories, not much differently in principle from the way our primitive ancestors did. So, it would be false to attempt to constrict the written, the oral and the visual into a timeline of progression from one to another. They exist in a universe of intertwining activity, influencing each other along the paths they have followed.

What they all have in common as well is that they employ illusion to reach us, to take us in one manner or another into a different world from the one in which we are living, even when they are telling us about that world. Elwy Yost explained in his talk how movies, in particular, are a magician’s illusion – an exercise in magic, hence the name of his show, Magic Shadows. “Movies” is shorthand for “moving pictures” but, Elwy explained, the images we see don’t actually move. Each frame in an old technology movie, or each digital image today, is a still picture. A series of these still images are flashed before our eyes at a speed that confuses our brains and creates the illusion that the images on the frames are moving rather than the frames themselves. We see the result as movement, comparable to the movement that exists in real life.

There are significant differences between the media, though. In a book the author creates characters and scenarios and describes them to a greater or lesser degree. But the reader’s imagination fills in the blanks and interprets the words. In my novel, Ruritania on the Rideau, Jack is described as having a face with “A few barely visible scars from stitches and a nose that slightly reflected the fact that it had once been broken.” Rachel has “a slightly crooked, impish smile.” Different readers could envisage very different faces with those same characteristics. Interpreting the way a character talks or moves or thinks is even more shaped by the reader, regardless of the text. Each reader is a co-creator with the author of the novel and what starts out as physically, or intellectually, one novel is changed by the co-creating readers into many somewhat different novels. The original working title of my sequel novel Ruritania Redux: Crucible of Love was “Rachel Sallester”, after the heroine. I considered having the image of Rachel as the cover picture but decided against it. One of the reasons was that while I had a clear image in my mind what Rachel looked like, which I might have been able to convey to an illustrator to please me, I didn’t wish to prevent readers from imagining what she looked like to them, depending upon how they related to her, and the illustration might not even meet the expectations of my own imagination. Another reason was I didn’t wish to pay an illustrator to come up with the image.

In a movie the screenwriter does not speak directly to the audience, but speaks instead to actors, the director, the editor, the makeup artist, etc, who do the interpreting and present a finished product of a character to the audience. While the viewer’s role is not entirely passive, a good film will invite the viewer to engage with the images, the role of a viewer is more passive than that of a reader.

This distinction is particularly important concerning how movies portray monarchy, because people are more likely to confuse fantasy and reality in a movie than in a book. Moving images look real even when they aren’t. In the 21st century this tendency is greater not lesser than it was for our parents or grandparents. For them, going to a cinema to see a film, or even turning on the television to watch a movie was a periodic action with a defined break from the normal procedure of personal interaction with others in the course of life. Today, while personal interaction still happens, of course, and people take a break to attend a cinema or watch television, the normal practice of life includes, in a way that it never did before, the use of hand-held or desk-mounted video and oral devices not just to receive images but to interact with others. The divide between what is real and what is artificial has been blurred.

Even in the past this was a problem. There is a famous scene from World War I of Canadian troops going over the top with one soldier thumbing his nose at the Germans. It appears in so many still picture accounts and documentary movies it has become legendary. I’ve forgotten the number of times I have seen it. It is not real, or at least how it is described is not real, as it was not part of an actual attack. There are no Germans in sight. The scene was in fact staged for the camera in a support trench on the Western Front, not in the front lines, for propaganda purposes. A good hint in World War I and World War II photos or films is if the camera angle is from the front or the side. It is likely staged unless we had somehow made a prior arrangement with the enemy to allow our camera crews to set up in their trenches or no man’s land to film the attacks. It is similar with D-Day films and pictures of World War II. There are virtually no actual images of the first wave landing in Normandy, for the obvious reason that the film crews did not land first and the Germans were too busy shooting at our troops to bother photographing them. But we often see pictures that are implied to be of the landing. All the footage we see in documentaries is of the second or third wave landings on the beaches after they had been seized by the first wave, and it was then possible for the camera units to get ashore. There is one famous exception at the Canadian landing – Juno Beach. A cameraman went in with the first wave, accompanying the North Shore Regiment from New Brunswick. His film he actually shot from a landing craft in the first wave, as he bravely accompanied the assault troops. But even he was not shooting from in front or the side of the troops, he was about the sixth from the front man in the landing craft and filmed the backs of the troops and the beach facing them as the ramp of the craft is lowered. But can anyone honestly say that if they look at these two famous war pictures from World War One and World War Two respectively which is real and which is staged, without my explanation? I don’t think so.

The distortion in the World War I image was used to illustrate and complement a narrative that was about reality, or at least a propagandistic version of reality. Movies, however, are not just doctored newsreels. They are fiction. If we can be misled by newsreels can we not also be misled by fiction? This matters because movies about monarchy are not documentaries, they are story telling. Their objective may be to convey a greater truth about life, but they are not doing so by telling an exact truth. And they never have. They are created, as are novels, by people who have a pre-existing point of view, if not a bias. Historical movies, in particular, generally reflect more the period in which they are produced than the period in history they present.

The first film I have come across concerning monarchy is Intolerance by D.W. Griffiths, a silent film released in 1916. It involves three separate stories of intolerance from history, one being the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of Protestants in France. Needless to say, and perhaps correctly, the French Crown does not come out well. Griffiths had previously released Birth of a Nation, a milestone in film-making, but also condemned at the time and since as hugely racist. For Griffiths, monarchy is not good, but the Ku Klux Klan is. Intolerance was not an apology for Birth of a Nation, but intended as a critique of those who had criticised Griffiths’ earlier film, who he considered were intolerant of him.

American made movies about monarchy have been shaped by, in Evelyn Waugh’s wonderful expression, the observation that, “Every American is born in double original sin – the sin of Adam and the sin of treason to King George III”. It is ingrained in the American psyche, therefore, that monarchy is not a plausible form of government for a people. It is not that all Americans are entirely anti-monarchical, though that is true for many if not most of them, it is that Americans are entirely incapable of comprehending monarchy in the real world as a positive force. They assume no one would actually be a practical royalist. Monarchy can only be good in the fairy tale or the fantasy world of beautiful princesses and gallant princes, or if the royals act as republicans. As a result, their films are largely unrealistic. In Star Wars Leia and Luke Skywalker may be a princess and a prince but there is nothing royal about the behaviour of the characters. They are just good American citizens in another world. In the 1949 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, starring Bing Crosby and based on the story by Mark Twain, Bing goes back in history to the time of King Arthur and teaches the court how to achieve virtue by being good Americans. That is often a theme in American movies. American films also exaggerate the pomp and wealth of monarchies. Not understanding kingship as a political system these films tend to emphasise romance and adventure in monarchies and thus are actually fairly benign even if often silly.

Movies made in one of the King’s realms by people who actually live within a monarchy are generally more realistic, understandably so. But they are also often more political, either pro or con. They are not immune from distorting history if it suits their ideology. Indeed they are more prone to it. Here are three examples.

Cromwell is a 1970 British film staring Richard Harris as Oliver Cromwell, Alec Guinness as Charles I and several other prominent British actors, including Robert Morley and Timothy Dalton. It’s theme is that Oliver Cromwell, whom I would describe as a totalitarian dictator, was the first British democrat. It provides a classic lesson in how a film can manipulate an audience. Sir Edward Hyde (later Lord Clarendon and grandfather of Queen Mary II and Queen Anne) was a prominent and loyal supporter of the King. The movie presents him as a noble and sympathetic figure for the audience to identify with. By the end of the film he finally has enough of Charles I and testifies against him at the King’s trial, providing much of the justification for the King’s execution. His rejection of the King is the movie’s device to allow the audience to accept the King’s execution in good conscience. That is the movie. In reality Hyde never turned on the King, never testified against the King and, at the time of the trial, was in exile with the King’s son, the future Charles II. This historical movie turns history on its head to make its ideological case for republicanism. But many watching will believe it is historically accurate.

Her Majesty is a 2001 New Zealand film attacking racism towards the Maori people. In the 1950s a small town is awaiting the arrival of the Queen on a tour. Most of the townsfolk are either indifferent or openly racist regarding the Maori. The heroine, a young white girl, befriends an elderly Maori woman who turns out to be a Maori queen. Through the efforts of the young girl, who writes to Queen Elizabeth II, when Her Majesty arrives she shocks the town by insisting on a long, private meeting with the Maori queen. I don’t think the incident actually happened, but it is a very powerful film against racism and uses the known views of the Queen in a fictional setting to make its point. The title refers to both queens. This contrasts with Cromwell, which lies about a real person’s views and actions to make its point.

The Stone of Destiny is a 2008 Scottish-Canadian co-production about the 1950 theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey by a group of young Scottish nationalists. It indulges in poetic licence for dramatic effect but is largely historically accurate and is an enjoyable and often humorous account of the actual incident. I enjoyed it but, while it doesn’t unduly distort history, it is utterly saturated with Scottish nationalism. I don’t object to that because it is upfront about its perspective and, while of course it tries to convert its audience, it doesn’t wholly distort history in doing so.

The following is a listing of the types of films that involve monarchy, giving a few examples of each. This is by no means anywhere near an exhaustive list, but reflects some films I am familiar with. Another person might, and most likely would, have a different list. I think royal films can be put into five general categories – fantasy, biblical, historical, Ruritanian and peripheral. Supplementing and in some cases within those categories there are musicals, comedies, dramas and adventure / romances.

Fantasy

King Kong – 1934

Jack and the Beanstock – 1952 (starring Abbott & Costello)

The Lion King – 1998

Biblical

The Ten Commandments – 1956 starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses

King of Kings – 1961

David and Goliath – 2016

Historical

Queen Christina – 1933 – with Greta Garbo

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex – 1939 – with Betty Davis & Errol Flynn

The Conqueror – 1956 – with an improbably cast John Wayne as Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan – 1965 – with a more believable Omar Sharif in the title role

The Day That Shook The World – 1975 – a film about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in 1914. It stars Christopher Plummer and Romy Schneider as the Imperial couple.

Ruritanian

The Prisoner of Zenda – 1913, 1922, 1937, 1952, 1977, 1979 films

The Swan – 1956 – starring Alex Guinness and Grace Kelly (who became in real life Princess Grace of Monaco)

Peripheral (especially military and Empire with small but significant scenes about monarchy)

49th Parallel – 1941 – A British war film about Canada starring Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook and Eric Portman

North West Mounted Police – 1940 – Gary Cooper as a Texas Ranger in 1885 Canada engaged with the NWMP during the second Riel Rebellion

Lawrence of Arabia – 1962 – in which Alec Guinness portrays Prince Faisal

The Devil’s Brigade – 1968 – a highly fictionalised account of the joint Canadian American Special Service Force in World War II

Zulu Dawn – 1979

Musical

The Student Prince – 1953

The King and I – 1956 with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner

Camelot – 1967 starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave as Arthur and Guenevere

Comedies

The Private Life of Henry VIII – 1933 with the great Charles Laughton as the king improvising the famous scene of eating a chicken leg

The Three Musketeers – 1973

King Ralph – 1991 – an ordinary American inherits the British Throne

Dramas

A Man For All Seasons – 1966 – Paul Scofield portrays Sir Thomas More and Robert Shaw plays King Henry VIII

Anne of The Thousand Days – 1969 – the story of Anne Boleyn portrayed by Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, with Richard Burton as Henry VIII

The King’s Speech – 2010 – Colin Firth as King George VI learning to overcome his stammer

Adventure / Romance

The Scarlet Pimpernel – 1934 – with Leslie Howard as the archetype English hero pretending to be a coward during the French Revolution while saving lives

Captain Blood – 1935 – Errol Flynn’s breakout role as a film star

The Adventures of Robin Hood – 1937 – a much loved film starring Errol Flynn

The Man Who Would Be King – 1975 – with Sean Connery and Michael Caine

Mysteries

The Man In The Iron Mask – 1939

Anastasia – 1956 – starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes in a completely fictionalised account of Anna Anderson who, falsely, claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Czar Nicholas II, who allegedly survived the murder of the Imperial Family by the Bolsheviks. Decades after the movie came out it was proved Anna Anderson was not Anastasia, who indeed was murdered, but Bergman won an Academy Award for her performance.

Murder By Decree – 1979 – with Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes and James Mason as Dr Watson, investigating the possibility of a royal connection with Jack the Ripper

Movies Inspired By Contemporary Events

Abdication – The Prisoner of Zenda, 1937 version was released a year after the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936. A line in the novel and movie is “Is love the only thing?”, when the heroine, Princess Flavia chooses duty over love, unlike the King who abdicated for the women he loved.

Royal Wedding – Royal Wedding, a 1951 musical comedy set in London at the occasion of the 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, starred Fred Astaire and Jane Powell

Coronation – The Prince and the Showgirl, 1953. Though set at the time of George V’s 1911 Coronation, it’s production was clearly meant to capitalise on the 1953 Coronation

Suez aftermath – The Queen’s Guards came out in 1961, five years after the Suez debacle and involves the British Army in the Middle East, with the hero proving his courage after his brother’s improper action.

Diana’s Death – The Queen, 2006, a fictional account of Queen Elizabeth II’s reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, just a decade before.

Contemporary Royal Family – The Crown – 2016 to 2023. A highly fictionalised television series about real and imagined events in the life of the Royal Family

Films About Queen Victoria

Victoria The Great – 1937 movie with Anna Neagle as Queen Victoria and Anton Walbrook as Prince Albert

Her Majesty, Mrs Brown – 1997 starring Judy Dench as Queen Victoria

The Young Victoria – 2009 – written by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and directed by Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.)

Victoria (TV series) – 2016

Movies in Monarchy

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 provided two examples of different connections between monarchy and movies.

A documentary on the Coronation, A Queen is Crowned was produced by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, a noted film company. The script was written by playwright Christopher Fry and it was narrated by the legendary actor Laurence Olivier. Although a documentary, it had the feel of a dramatic movie, was nominated for an Academy Award in the United States and won a Golden Globe award. At the United Kingdom cinema box office it was one of the most popular films in 1953.

The Coronation featured twenty-seven carriages of various types, including, of course, the historic Gold State Coach. The Royal Mews did not have enough carriages to meet the need, however. Sir Alexander Korda, the film magnate who owned London Films, stepped up, providing carriages from the collection used in his historical movies. The crowds on the streets that day watching the carriages from both the Royal Mews and from London Films drive past were actually watching a seamless merging of monarchy and movies. They might even have thought some of the carriages looked familiar for some reason without connecting them to a movie they had seen.

For more than a century, in an otherwise constantly changing world, monarchy and movies have informed and shaped one another. The former has served people and the latter has entertained people. As they interacted, both have drawn upon the political significance and cultural impact of and people’s intrinsic belief in kingship of some form around the world and throughout the millennia of human history. There is no reason to believe that will not continue to be the case for the next century.

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Royal Glossary

Arthur Bousfield

Correct, precise language must be used when dealing with monarchy. This glossary of constitutionally and legally accurate definitions of terms, practices and concepts along with excerpts from official documents and scholarly writings will help in understanding and clarifying the meaning of the language. News media, and increasingly the courts, avoid royal language wherever they can in order to hide the fact that Canada is a functioning constitutional monarchy, a country in which the monarch, his authority and his representatives are part of the day-to-day operation of government. Canada’s royal nature is tied up with its very existence, its development and its future and is therefore a matter of pride and veneration, not something to be ashamed of. Royal terminology should be used as widely and frequently as possible.

ARMED FORCES “15 The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and of all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, in hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.” The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly The British North America Act)

Since the Letters Patent of King Edward VII in 1905, the Sovereign has made each Governor-General Commander-in-Chief.

CANADIAN ROYAL JEWELS In 1605 King Henri IV accepted the gift of ten amethyst crystals sent to him by the first settlers of Acadia. They included one crystal from Cape Blomidon that was afterwards kept with the Crown Jewels and disappeared with the other Bourbon regalia during the French Revolution. In 1799 the Legislature of Nova Scotia presented the Duke of Kent (father of Queen Victoria) with a Star of the Order of the Garter in diamonds to mark his residence in the province. A diamond necklace was the Canadian government’s gift to Princess Louise at the end of her husband the Marquis of Lorne’s time as Governor-General. The Canadian-born geologist, financier and philanthropist John Thoburn Williamson gave the 54-carat Princess Pink Diamond as a wedding present to Princess Elizabeth (as Queen Elizabeth II then was) in 1947. The Princess Pink Diamond came from Williamson’s African diamond mines. For Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953 Canada joined the other Commonwealth countries in providing the gold bracelets or armills with which the Queen was invested and which now form part of the Crown Jewels. The bracelets signify the Lord’s protection and symbolise the bond which unites the Queen with her peoples.

CANADA’S ROYAL ANTHEM God Save The King (or Queen) is Canada’s Royal Anthem. Its words are Jewish in origin. They come from the Old Testament accounts of the Jewish kings Saul, David and Joash (1 Samuel, 10.24; 2 Samuel 16. 16; 2 Kings 11.12; and 2 Chronicles 23.11) in the period roughly 1050 to 798 B.C. The Royal Anthem is part of Canada’s heritage through both Canada’s French and British strains of monarchy. The words were sung officially for our French kings even before they were so used by our British monarchs. When Louis XIV visited the young women’s academy at St Cyr in 1686 he was greeted by 300 voices singing:

Grand Dieu sauvez le roi

Grand Dieu vengez le roi

Vive le roi

Qu'à jamais glorieux

Louis victorieux

Voie ses ennemis toujours soumis

Vive le roi.

The connection between these lines and the present official English words of the Canadian Royal Anthem is obvious:

God save our gracious King,

Long live our noble King,

God save the King.

Send him victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the King.

The words of God Save the King are completely non-geographical. It is a paradox that God Save the King became the prototype of the world’s national anthems because it never was a national anthem in essence or in its own tradition. (Even in the United Kingdom today it is not officially a national anthem.) Rather than being about a country, the words of God Save The King are a prayer to God to protect a person – for us the King of Canada. It was during the Jacobite uprising in 1745 that the Royal Anthem became a popular song. Under King George II and King George III it began to be used officially. It has been sung and played in Canada almost exactly as long as it has in the United Kingdom - nearly 300 years. The singing of the Royal Anthem is associated with many famous Canadian national occasions. The tune is among the most celebrated in the world and was so much admired that other nations adopted it. The music forms the present national anthem of Switzerland and the music and words are the Royal Anthem of Norway. In Canada the official French text was authorised for the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953:

Dieu protégé le roi

De sa main souveraine

Vive le roi!

Qu'un règne glorieux

Long et victoriux

Rende son peuple heureux!

Vive le roi!

Unlike the National Anthem O Canada, the words of the Royal Anthem mean the same in both official languages. God Save The King forms part of royal and viceregal salutes and can be sung or played on any occasion. A popular setting of the words and music is that of the Toronto musician, conductor and composer Sir Ernest Macmillan.

CASTLES A major fortification is a castle. A royal castle is a fortification that has a royal palace or residence within it. Windsor Castle is an example of the latter as was once Edinburgh Castle which was the royal residence in that city before Holyrood House replaced it as a palace. In Canada, the royal viceregal residence in the Citadel at Quebec City, a nineteenth century version of a castle, makes the Citadel a royal castle in Canada.

COMMON ERRORS ABOUT THE MONARCHY Referrring to the King as “King Charles”. The only correct way of referring to the Sovereign is “the King” or “King Charles III”. The sole exception is when the King is mentioned in formal prayer (for instance, “Our Sovereign Lord King Charles”).

Referring to the King as “King of England”. There has been no King or Queen of England since Queen Anne in 1707. In that year the Crowns of Scotland and England were merged and the Sovereign assumed the new title “Queen [King] of Great Britain”. (The title is now “Queen of the United Kingdom.”) In Canada his title is “King of Canada”, in Belize “King of Belize” etc.

Assuming that the King is ethnically “British”. Though born in England, His Majesty and his heirs are descended from more than 40 identifiable ethnic groups, including ones in Asia and Africa.

Referring to the Governor-General as the “Head of State”. Canada has a King and a Governor-General. The King is the embodiment of the Canadian state and the Governor-General his personal representative. The office of the Governor-General is derived from and subordinate to that of King. The Canadian Constitution recognises no such title as “Head of State”. That term applies to presidents of republics and to some monarchs but not to a monarchy of the Canadian kind, where sovereignty lies with the King-in-Parliament/Legislature.

Assuming that Canadian taxes support the Royal Family. Canadians pay no money whatsoever toward the personal income of the Royal Family. [See Cost of the Monarchy.]

Assuming that the Sovereign’s Grant in the United Kingdom is tax money. The Sovereign’s Grant is not tax money but is revenue derived from the hereditary Crown Estate out of which the monarchical expenses in that country are financed.

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY Key sections of the written part of the Canadian Constitution relating to the Monarchy:

9 . The Executive Government and authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen. The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly The British North America Act).

40. An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to the following matters may be made …. only where authorised by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province. (a) office of the Queen, the Governor-General and the Lieutenant-Governor of a province …. The Constitution Act 1982

The Canadian Constitution derives from the Queen. The Constitution declares the existence and continuation of the office of queen but does not pretend to create it. The origins of that ancient office lie with the Anglo-Saxon chieftains of northern Germany in the 4th century or earlier.

COST OF THE MONARCHY The cost of the Monarchy in Canada has been estimated at about $1 dollar per person per year. This includes the costs of royal engagements and tours in Canada, the salaries and operating expenses of the Governor-General and the Lieutenant-Governors and their households and the Canadian Honours System. It was estimated in 1993 that the cost of the American presidency was US$1 billion per year, or Cdn$5 per person, with the cost of state governors additional. Personal expenses of the Royal Family are paid for from the private income of the Royal Family and public expenses of the Monarchy in the United Kingdom or other realms of the King are paid for by the respective countries. Members of the Royal Family are paid no salary or honorarium by the Canadian or any Commonwealth government for carrying out their duties and fulfilling their inherited vocation.

THE CROWN A special term denoting His Majesty the King in his official capacity. Also used as an adjective to describe agents acting for the King or for things belonging to him.

Some writers have called the Crown ‘a team of governors’ or ‘the collective Crown’. Such terms are merely fanciful theories about how the powers of the Crown are exercised. There can be no doubt about what the Crown actually is because there is a a Canadian statue which defines it: ‘Her Majesty’, ‘the Queen;, ‘the King’, or ‘the Crown’ means the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth. The Interpretation Act (Canada) 1985.

CROWN ATTORNEY The prosecutor in the Canadian judicial system.

CROWN CORPORATION An agency of the King. In law, the King acts directly through government departments, whereas Crown corporations are his agents.

CROWN LAND Land in Canada derives from the Crown. Crown land is the public land which, since it has not been sold or granted, belongs to the King.

DAUPHIN Title of the heir to the Throne in Canada’s French line of kings.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH “The question then arose whether it would be proper to have in the title we would use [for Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada], the traditional words, by the grace of God, sovereign. We felt that our people did recognise that the affairs of this world were not determined exclusively by the volition of men and women; that they were determined by men and women as agents for a supreme authority; and that it was by the grace of that supreme authority that we were privileged to have such a person as our sovereign. Then perhaps the more delicate question about the retention of the words defender of the faith. In England there is an established church. In our countries [the other monarchies of the Commonwealth] there are no established churches, but in our countries there are people who have faith in the direction of human affairs by an all-wise Providence; and we felt that it was a good thing that the civil authorities would claim that their organisation is such that it is a defence of the continued belief in a supreme power that orders the affairs of mere men, and that there could be no reasonable objection from anyone who believed in the Supreme Being in having the sovereign, the head of the civil authority, described as a believer in and a defender of the belief in a supreme ruler.” Speech by Louis St Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada, in the House of Commons, 1953

DEMOCRACY The system in which the people have a role defined and guaranteed by statute in treating with their Monarch.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD H.R.H. The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II and father of King Charles III, established the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Canada in 1963. The Award is a non-competitive programme of leisure time activities designed to challenge young people to make the best possible use of their time by involving them in worthwhile (e.g. community) and enjoyable pursuits. The Award has three levels of achievement: bronze, silver and gold. The Gold Award is presented by a member of the Royal Family. Since its inception over 100,000 Canadian young people have achieved the Award. Before his death in 2021 the Duke of Edinburgh’s role in the Award scheme was gradually taken over by his youngest son H.R.H. The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. [The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award / Young Canadians Challenge, P.O. Box 124, Suite 825, 207 Queen’s Quay west, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 1A7]

FOUNDATIONS AND CHARITIES HONOURING MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY Scholarships, grants and awards have been set up to mark important royal tours in Canada or special royal occasions. For instance, the Victorian Order of Nurses was Canada’s gift to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and the Canadian Cancer Fund came out of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of King George V in 1935. The Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography, set up in 1989 in honour of Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah is a more recent example. Lesser known ones are the Queen Elizabeth II Fund to Aid in Research on the Diseases of Children and the trust fund established in honour of Elizabeth II in her Silver Jubilee year, 1977, to help young Canadians better understand each other’s language and culture.

FOUNT OF HONOUR A term used in referring to the King indicating that all honours in Canadian society come from him or are recognised by him.

GOVERNOR-GENERAL The personal representative of the King in Canada.

An indication of how the Fathers of Confederation wished the Monarchy to work in Canada is provided b the Confederation debates in which the principles underlying the Canadian state were discussed. It was stated in these debates that the government was “to be administered by the Sovereign personally or the Representative of the Sovereign duly authorised” [Authors’ italics]

10 . The Provisions of this Act referring to the Governor-General extend and apply to the Governor-General of the Time being of Canada, or other the Chief Executive Officer or administrator of the Time being carrying on the Government of Canada on behalf and in the name of the Queen, by whatever title he is designated. [Authors’ italics] The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly The British North America Act)

We do, by this Our commission under Our Great Seal of Canada, appoint [name of person] to be, during Our Pleasure, Our Governor-general and |Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada, with all the powers, rights, privileges and advantages belong or appertaining to the office Warrant of the Sovereign appointing a Governor-General of Canada

And we do hereby authorise and empower Our Governor-General, with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada or of any members thereof or individually, as the case requires, to exercise all powers and authorities lawfully belonging to Us in respect of Canada. Letters Patent of King George VI constituting the office of Governor-General, 8 September 1947

While allowing the Sovereign’s Representative to exercise all the Sovereign’s powers, the Letters Patent of 1947 do not in any way mean that those powers are not also exercisable by the Sovereign him/herself. There was no mention of such a possibility when the Letters Patent were issued in 1947 and such a course would have been contrary to the clear intention of the principles underlying Canadian government as outlined in the Confederation debates (mentioned above). The intention of the Letters Patent of 1947 was to provide for the exercise of royal powers in Canada during a regency.

HEREDITARY SUCCESSION “ A king is a king, not because he is rich and powerful, not because he is a successful polititican, not because he beongs to a particular creed or to a national group. He is King because he is born. And in choosing to leave the selection of their head of state to the most common denomination in the world – the accident of birth - Canadians implicitly proclaim their faith in human equality, their hope for the triumph of nature over political manoeuvre, over social and financial interest, for the victory of the human person.” Canadian historian Rev’d Fr Jacques Monet, s.j.

H.M.C.S. or N.C.S.M. His Majesty’s Canadian ship / Navire canadien de Son Majesté. A commissioned ship in the Canadian Forces.

HONOURS FROM THE KING The King is the fount of honour in Canada and the creator of all official honours whether they are subsequently awarded by His Majesty personally or on the Kiing’s behalf by his representative, the Governor-General, with His Majesty’s approval. His Majesty is the Sovereign of all national orders. The major Canadian honours are the Victoria Cross, Star of Military Valour and Medal of Military Valour (military gallantry), the Cross of Valour, Star of Courage and Medal of Bravery (civilian bravery); the Order of Canada, Order of Military Merit, Royal Victorian Order and Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. Canadians are also admitted to the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour by His Majesty. Provincial honours created by the King’s representatives in the provinces in their executive or legislative capacities are also accorded official recognition.

HOW TO MEET THE KING When formally presented to and taking leave of the King, a man makes a bow and a woman a curtsey. The bow is a simple bow from the neck only, the back being held straight. (The bow should not be what has been humouresly described as a “bum bow”, in which a person bows from the waist and sticks out his or her rear end.) A curtsey is a brief bob made with the weight on the front foot. Any woman who feels uncomfortable with a curtsey should make a neck bow instead. The King is addressed the first time as “Your Majesty” and afterwards as “Sir”. A person does not initiate conversation with the King but replies fully and readily to his questions and comments. Of course on walkabouts such formality is relaxed. Politeness and common sense would then be the guide.

The King’s wife, the Queen, is also greeted with a bow or curtsey. She is addressed the first time as “Your Majesty” and afterwards as “Ma’am”.

Other members of the Royal Family who are princes or princesses are greeted with a bow or curtsey and addressed the first time as “Your Royal Highness” and afterwards as “Sir” or “Ma’am”.

As the direct representative of the King, the Governor-General is entitled to a bow or curtsey. Lieutenant-Governors, who represent His Majesty at a remove, are not so entitled.

HOW TO WRITE TO THE KING The King not only enjoys receiving mail from his subjects but considers it an important way of keeping in touch with public opinion. Petitions to the King, formal addresses, expressions of loyalty, copies of resolutions, etc., should be sent to him through Government House, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA1, with a covering letter to The Secretary to the Governor-General asking that they be sent to the King. Communications of a more personal nature should be sent to His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, London, with a covering letter to The Private Secretary to the King asking that they be brought to His Majesty’s attention. The envelope address is His Majesty The King, Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom, SW1 AA1. The opening of the letter (where Dear so and so is normally used) is simply “Sir”. The closing formula is “I have the honour to remain, Sir, Your Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant.” In the body of the letter “Your Majesty" is used in place of “you” and “Your Majesty’s” in place of “your”.

KING’S BIRTHDAY King Charles III’s actual birthday is 14 December1948. By royal proclamation the public celebration of his birthday in Canada is held each year on the Monday preceeding the 25th of May – the same day as Victoria Day. (Victoria Day is a dual holiday celebrating the birthdays of both the reigning monarch and of the Mother of Confederation.) On that day twenty-one gun salutes are fired at the official saluting bases across Canada (Ottawa and the provincial capitals), parades, picnics and fireworks take place, and students and workers are given a holiday.

KING’S COLOUR A regimental flag representing the King and his authority.

KING’S COMMISSION The appointment of an officer (or a ship) in the Canadian Forces.

KING’S COUNSEL (K.C.) / CONSEILLER DU ROI ((C.R.) An honour bestowed on eminent lawyers at both the federal and provincial levels. An individual made a K.C. is formally described as “one of His Majesty’s Counsel learnèd in the law”.

THE KING’S ENGLISH The traditional way of referring to the English language in Canada.

KING’S EVIDENCE Evidence given by a witness for the Crown against an accused person.

THE KING’S HIGHWAY All Crown-owned road systems are the King’s Highways. The term King’s Highway was until recently widely used on road signs in the Province of Ontario., since for some inexplicable reason they were not altered to ‘Queen’s Highway” when Elizabeth II succeeded her father King George VI on the Throne. It remains the official name of the system in Ontario and all roads that constitute it, such as the 400 series of expressways, are identified by a crown on highway signs, encompassing the highway number.

KING’S HONORARY PHYSICIAN, KING’S HONORARY DENTAL SURGEON, KING’S HONORARY NURSING SISTER. Special appointments in the Canadian Forces approved by the Kiing.

THE KING’S PEACE The traditional description of the state of law and order

KING’S PERSONAL FLAG FOR CANADA The King’s personal flag indicates His Majesty’s actual presence and is flown at Government House, from the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, from automobiles, aircraft and other vehicles, from saluting bases and in other appropriate circumstances. It takes precedence over all other flags and its design is based on the King’s Canadian coat-of-arms.

KING’S PLATE The oldest continuously run horse race in North America.

KING’S PRINTER The department of government at both federal and provincial levels which is responsible for official publications.

KING’S PRIVY COUNCIL FOR CANADA The supreme executive body of the Government of Canada, The Cabinet is a committee of the King’s Privy Council. Decisions of the Cabinet are given legal effect by means of orders of the Governor-General in the King’s Privy Council for Canada

LAW OF SUCCESSION In 1272 Edward I (ancestor of both Henry VII and François I) was absent in Palestine when his father died. To avoid chaos his council proclaimed him King immediately and since then the law has been that the Crown never dies. “ The King is dead, long live the King!” Prior to 1272, a king only became king at his coronation and, in the period between the death of one monarch and the coronation of the next, there was no king. The Crown had been hereditary in a family snce the days of the early Saxon tribal rulers (before A.D. 450) but the succession was different from today’s. Our present-day rule of succession is a kind of middle way compared to other practices such as that of the French line of kings, where females were excluded, or that of the Pictish kings of Scotland, where only males succeeded but succession was matrilinear, i.e. through the female line. After an earlier unsuccessful attempt in 1135, women of the Royal Family established their right to succeed to the Throne in 1553 with Queen Mary I (more than 400 years before women could independently hold property in law). The succession has also occasionally been interrupted by the death and defeat of a monarch in battle (as when Henry VII seized the Throne from Richard III in 1485) or the conquest of the kingdom (as when the Sovereign Prince of Orange, William III, seized the Throne from his father-in-law James II in 1688). In 1701 the monarch’s subjects in parliament imposed the restriction that the ruler could not be a Roman Catholic. In 1936 the succession was altered by Act of Parliament to permit the abdication of Edward VIII. The heir to the Throne does not have to reach a particular age to be monarch but can succeed at birth should the reigning monarch happen to die at that time. Until 2013 succession was not strictly by order of birth because, although older children succeeded before younger, males succeeded before females. Those born from2013 now succeed according to date of birth regardless of sex.

LEADER OF HIS MAJESTY’S LOYAL OPPOSITION The leader of the majority of the opposition members of the House of Commons or of a provincial legislative assembly.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR The representative of the King in a Canadian province.

58. For each province there shall be an officer styled the Lieutenant-Governor, appointed by the Governor-General in Council by Instrument under the Great Seal of Canada. The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly The British North America Act)

[A] Lieutenant–Governor, when appointed, is as much the representative for Her Majesty for all purposes of provincial government as the Governor-General himself is for all purposes of Dominion government. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Liquidators of the Maritime Bank v. Receiver-General of New Brunswick, 1892

THE LOYAL TOAST The Loyal Toast is the name of the official toast in Canada to express loyalty to the Sovereign. Toasts are given to monarchs or heads of state, not to countries. For Canada the toast is “The King / Le roi,” for Commonwealth citizens and foreigners it is “The King of Canada / Le roi du Canada.” Canadians toast other countries with, for example, “The Queen of Denmark” or “The President of the United States.” The toast should only be given in wine or water, never in coffee or tea. By tradition, smoking is not permitted at a dinner until guests drink the Loyal Toast.

MESSAGES FROM THE KING For 60th wedding anniversaries and 100th birthdays of Canadians, messages from the King can be arranged. They are sent from the King through Government House, Ottawa, and can be obtained through MPs, MPPs, MLAs, MHAs, MNAs, etc. At least three months advanced notice is required.

OATHS TO THE KING Constitutional monarchy effectively integrates executive, legislative and judicial functions of government at both central and provincial levels. In Canada there is, in the words of the great constitutional authority Eugene Forsey, only one authority – the King’s – manifested through eleven governments. Federal systems that are not monarchies find it difficult to reconcile regional authority with federal unity because the common institutional thread of a Crown is missing. This integration is illustrated by the oaths taken at various levels of Canadian society:

Privy Councillor’s Oath [taken by all cabinet ministers]: “I, [name], do solemnly and sincerely swear that I shall be a true and faithful servant to His Majesty King Charles III, as a Member of His Majesty’s Privy Council for Canada, I shall keep secret all matters committed and revealed to me in this capacity, or that shall be secretly treated of in Council. Generally, in all things I shall do so as a true and faithful servant ought to do for His Majesty. So help me God.”

Oath for MPs or MPPS, MNAs, MHAs, etc. “I, [name], do swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, His Heirs and Successors according to law.” The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly The British North America Act), The Fifth Schedule

A person entering the Canadian Forces makes the following affirmation: “I, [name], do affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, His Heirs and Successors”.

Citizenship Oath Before obtaining Canadian citizenship, an individual must take this oath: “I”, [name], “swear” or “I” [name], “affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including the Constitution which recognises and affirms the aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen”.

ORDER-IN-COUNCIL Executive act by the King or by the Governor-General on His Majesty’s behalf with the advice and consent of the King’s Privy Council for Canada. Executive Councils (cabinets) are the provincial parallel to the King’s Privy Council for Canada and issue orders-in-council authorised by the Lieutenant-Governor on the King’s behalf.

ORDER OF SUCCESSION Under normal conditions the hereditary factor is the sole one governing the succession. Because the Crown descends in a family, it is almost impossible for there not to be a successor to it. The first 30 people in the order of succession (as of 1 January 2023) are 1. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (Prince William) 2. H.R.H. Prince George of Wales, Earl of Strathearn 3. H.R.H. Princess Charlotte of Wales 4. H.R.H. Prince Louis of Wales, 5. H.R.H. The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry), 6. H.R.H. Prince Archie of Sussex, 7. H.R.H. Princess Lilibet of Sussex, 8. H.R.H. The Duke of York (The Prince Andrew), 9. H.R.H. Princess Beatrice, Mrs Eduardo Mapelli Mozzi, 10 Miss Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, 11. Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank, 12. Master August Brooksbank, 13 H.R.H. The Earl of Wessex (The Prince Edward), 14 Viscount Severn (Prince James), 15 Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (Princess Louise), 16 H.R.H. The Princess Royal (The Princess Anne), 17 Mr Peter Phillips, 18. Miss Savannah Phillips, 19. Miss Islay Phillips, 20. Zara Tindall, Mrs Michael Tindall, 21 Miss Mia Tindall, 22. Miss Lena Tindall, 23. Master Lucas Tindall, 24. The Earl of Snowdon (David Armstrong-Jones), 25 The Viscount Linley (Charles Armstrong-Jones), 26. Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones, 27. Lady Sarah, Mrs Daniel Chatto, 28. Mr Samuel Chatto, 29. Mr Arthur Chatto, 30. H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester (Prince Richard). Among the first 150 are such diverse individuals as Princess Margarita of Romania, Prince Alexander of Serbia, Grand Duke George of Russia, etc.

PALACE Usually assumed to be a spectacular royal residence, which some such as Buckingham Palace are, but any non-fortified royal residence is a palace, even if the title is not used in the name. Thus Rideau Hall, the King’s official residence in Ottawa is a palace.

PARLIAMENT The highest legislative body in Canada, composed of King, Senate and Commons.

THE PREROGATIVE The sum of royal authority resting on the common law rather than on statutory law. It consists of things that the Crown may do without statutory authorisation.

PRINCE OF WALES Title usually (but not always) bestowed by the Monarch on his or her heir. It is a reminder of the multinational nature of Canada’s Royal Family.

PRIVY COUNCILLOR A member of the King’s Privy Council for Canada.

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT The system in which representatives of the people gather in Parliament under the Sovereign to determine the laws of Canada.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT The system of government under which the King’s advisers (the Cabinet) can hold office only so long as they have the confidence of the House of Commons.

REX VERSUS JOHN DOE The term when the Crown prosecutes an accused person. In the United States it would be “the People versus John Doe”. When a subject brings a suit against the Crown, the formula is “John Doe versus His Majesty the King”.

ROYAL ARMS OF CANADA “ Granted to identify federal public authority, the Arms of Canada assigned [by King George V] in 1921 evolved in their significance as the federal authority evolved with the gradual constitutional developments of the period. Following the Statute of Westminster [1931] and the formal recognition of Canada as a sovereign state, the arms became the expression of this characteristic and so arms of supreme rule, that is to say of sovereignty. In other words, they had become royal arms of dominion and sovereignty as borne by the sovereign in right of Canada.” Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty, Sir Conrad Swan, K.C.V.O., 1977, p. 8

ROYAL ASSENT The King’s consent to a bill in Parliament. It is the final stage of legislation.

ROYAL COLONELS-IN-CHIEF One of the distinctive characteristics of the Canaadian Forces is the regimental system which treats units of the Forces as families, many led by a member of the Royal Family as colonel-in-chief. Almost all colonels-in-chief in Canada are members of the Royal Family. As a mark of special royal favour many Canadian regiments have been given the designation royal (e.g. Le Royal 22e Régiment) and others named after members of the Royal Family (e.g. Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry).

ROYAL COMMISSION A commission by letters patent running in the King’s name entrusted with an important inquiry into public affairs..

ROYAL FOUNDATIONS Monarchs have been personally involved in setting up famous Canadian institutions. George II was the ‘Royal founder’ of St Paul’s Church, Halifax, and George III of Christ Church Cathedral, Quebec City. The Mohawk Chapels Royal in Brantford and Tyendinaaga were paid for by George III. William IV is honoured as the royal founder of the University of Victoria College in Toronto and George IV established King’s College, out of which the University of Toronto developed. After fire destroyed the University of Toronto Library in 1890, Queen Victoria and members of the Royal Family (including her grandson Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany) gave money for the restoration. An outgrowth of this was the Royal Ontario Museum. Elizabeth II created St Catherine’s Chapel at Massey College in Toronto associated with the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation a Chapel Royal in 2017.

ROYAL GARDEN PARTIES Every year early in July the King holds three large garden parties at Buckingham Palace in London and one at Holyrood House in Edinburgh. Canadians who are planning to be in either city at that time may ask to be considered for an invitation. Letters making such requests should be written at least six months in advance to The High Commissioner of Canada, Macdonald House, 1 Grosvenor Square, London, United Kingdom W1X 0AB

ROYAL NAMES Canada is rich in place names derived from or associated with its Monarchy. From the British Columbia capital of Victoria to hundreds of streets called Victoria, the name of the Mother of Confederation is more widely used in Canada than in any other part of the Commonwealth. Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia are royal names, as are Regina, Fredericton and Guelph. Queen Elizabeth I herself named Meta Incognita on Baffin Island; Cape Henrietta Maria commemorates Charles I’s Queen, Louisbourg was named for Louis X1V; and Dauphin, Manitoba, derived its name from the title of Louis XV’s heir. Ottawa was chosen as the national capital by Queen Victoria. Among the most recent additions to this heritage of nomenclature are the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre in the Northwest Territories and the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.

ROYAL SIGN MANUAL The signature of the King written by his own hand.

ROYAL STATUES Carved over the doors to the House of Commons inside the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa are the likenesses of Henry VII and François I, the first monarchs officially considered as reigning in Canada. Along with them are Louis XIV and George II. The Parliament Buildings also boast a statue of Victoria in the Library and a bust of her over the thrones in the Senate. Heads of all the monarchs since Confederation (Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II) decorate the Senate foyer. The striking equestrian statue of Queen Elizabeth II on Parliament Hill [temporarily re-situated at Government House] was unveiled by Her Majesty on 30 June 1992. Statues of Queen Elizabeth II’s father George VI may be found in Vancouver and Niagara Falls, and Toronto and Montreal possess fine ones of Edward VII. Statues of Queen Victoria abound throughout the country. One of the two in Montreal was designed by Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise. There are also statues of the 19th century monarch in Hamilton, Toronto and Victoria. Place Royale in Quebec City has a fine head and shoulders bust of Louis XIV based on the original by Bernini.

ROYAL STYLE AND TITLES “Now Know Ye that by and with the advice of our Privy Council for Canada We do by this Our Royal Proclamation establish for Canada Our Royal Style and Titles as follows, namely in the English language: “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith” And in the French language: Elizabeth Deux, par la grâce de Dieu, Reine du Royaume-uni, du Canada et de ses autres royaumes et territories, Chef du Commonwealth Défenseur de la Foi” … Given the Twenty-eighth day of May in the Year of Our Lord One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three in the Second Year of Our Reign." Proclamation of the Canadian Royal Style and Titles as provided by Act of the Parliament of Canada 1953. Revised by substitution of “King Charles the Third” used at the Canadian accession proclamation of the King, 10 september 2022.

ROYAL VISITS Constitutional monarchy allows the celebration of public social events, such as the marking of collective anniversaries and the bestowal of honours, to be free of the taint of partisan politics. If one belongs to a community that has not had a royal visit or has not had a member of the Royal Family present for a long time, one can request such a visit through a Member of Parliament. It is wise to have a specific purpose in mind when proposing a visit (e.g., the opening of a new facility, the celebration of an anniversary, the marking of a holiday, etc.). It is also wise to enlist the support of a cabinet minister when requesting a royal visit.

ROYAL WARRANT The written permission or command of the King to do something.

SPEECH FROM THE THRONE The speech announcing the Government’s policy for the session read by the King or the Governor-General when opening Parliament. It is also applied to the speech read by the King’s representative in a province, the Lieutenant-Governor, when opening a legislature.

SPORTS Royal and viceregal patronage have played and continue to play an important role in the development of Canada’s sporting heritage. The King’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes (horse racing) and Prince of Wales Trophy (hockey) are examples of support for professional sports which have achieved international stature. Governors-General have given their names to such famous trophies as the Stanley Cup, the Grey Cup and the Vanier Cup. Sports organisations, including the Royal Canadian Golf Association and the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, and stadia such as Empire Stadium (Vancouver, built 1954 and demolished 1992), Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton), old Lansdowne Park (Ottawa) and Parc Victoria (Quebec City) also reflect the royal heritage of Canada. The Prince Andrew Cup (cross-country running) and Viscount Alexander Trophy (outstanding junior competitor in amateur sports) reward young Canadian athletes.

THE THRONE The chair in which the King sits in his High Court of Parliament or wherever else he (or his representative on his behalf) holds court. The term is sometimes also used to refer to the Monarchy as a whole.

WRIT A written command from the King (or from a person acting in his name) ordering someone to do or not to do a certain thing. The writ to the returning officer of an electoral district, for example, commands him or her to hold an election there on a particular day.

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Images of Canada’s Monarchs and Where to See Them

Arthur Bousfield

Many royal images in this catalogue are located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. Unfortunately the Centre Block was closed in October 2019 for restoration and modernisation, a project that is to take up to approximately 2032 to complete. In the interval, the state portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Lilias Torrance Newton has been moved to the temporary premises of the Senate which are in the old Union Station now renamed the Senate of Canada Building. The portraits from the Francophonie Gallery were reportedly also being moved to the Senate of Canada Building but it is not certain whether this has yet been done. All the others can only be studied in photographs.

The Trust would appreciate information about additions to this Images catalogue that visitors to the site consider eligible. Please contact canadianroyalheritage@crht.ca with the details.

ELIZABETH II

· Equestrian statue of Elizabeth II mounted on her black gelding Centennial on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, currently temporarily re-located to the entrance to Government House (Rideau Hall) grounds.

· Queen’s head carved in stone as one of the corbels of the six Sovereigns of Canada since Confederation that are in the foyer of the Senate of Canada.

· Bronze Bust of Elizabeth II shown wearing the Vladimir Tiara and the insignia of her Canadian Orders at the entrance to the Library of Parliament, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. The bust was the work of the Dominion Carver.

· State portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Lilias Torrance Newton 1955, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Statue of the Queen seated on the Throne of Canada by artist Ruth Abernethy inspired by Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee opening of the third session of the Thirtieth Parliament of Canada in Ottawa in 1977 has been cast and is to be erected at Queen’s Park, Toronto

· Larger than life bronze equestrian statue of Elizabeth II on her favourite horse Burmese by Susan Velder of St Walburg was Saskatchewn’s gift to the Queen on her Golden Jubilee in 2002. It faces the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina

· Statue of the Queen depicted standing by Manitoba artist Leo Mol, in the gardens of Government House, Winnipeg.

· Head and shoulders bust of the Monarch created by Peggy Walton Packard in 1962 for Beacon Park, Victoria, BC, to mark the Sovereign’s 1959 visit to the city. The bust was vandalised and thrown into the ocean but recovered and repaired and the restored version viewed by Queen Elizabeth II herself in 2002.

· Image of the Queen’s head on the Golden Jubilee Rose Garden plaque, Queen’s Park, Toronto

· Portrait in the 48th Highlanders of Canada Officers Mess, Moss Park Armoury, 130 Queen Street East, Toronto.

· Coronation portrait of Elizabeth II by Kenneth Forbes showing the Queen crowned and holding orb and sceptre, Toronto City Archives

· Diamond Jubilee portrait painted by Scarborough, Ontario artist Philip James Richards for the Government of Canada in 2012. Government House, Ottawa.

· Affectionate Memory Images, the painting of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh by Jean-Paul Lemieux hanging in The Citadel, Quebec City.

· Head of the Monarch on the large million-dollar Canadian coin in the mineralogical section of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. The coin is one of six minted by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. It is now worth over four million dollars.

· Eight by twelve foot portrait of Elizabeth II by John Bierk in the Peterborough Civic Arena was based on the official photography by John Evans of Ottawa and was commissioned by the local IODE.

· A head and shoulders image of Queen Elizabeth II in three quarter profile occupies the left right of the two light Diamond Jubilee Window above the Senate entrance to the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The window commemorates the two Diamond Jubilees celebrated by the two Canadian Queens, Victoria and Elizabeth II in 1897 and 20012 respectively. (See also Victoria.) Above Queen Elizabeth II is her royal cypher EIIR and below a natural red maple leaf. Queen Elizabeth II chose the set of drop earrings and diamond necklace made for Queen Victoria in 1858 as the set of jewellery for both Queens to be depicted wearing in the window panes. Elizabeth II is also seen wearing the symbolic Northern Diadem of snowflakes and maple leaves which Her Majesty had approved for use officially in 2008.

· Picture of the nine-year-old Princess Elizabeth on the one cent Canadian postage stamp issued for the Silver J\ubilee of King George V in 1935. Canadian Postal Museum, Ottawa.

GEORGE VI

· The “King of Canada” statue in Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was given by a local resident.

· Profile of the King with that of the Queen Consort on the Queen Elizabeth Way Monument at the Toronto end of the first double highway in Canada, Lakeshore Park, Toronto

· The handsome statue of the King outside the Woodward Medical Library, University of British Columbia is a replica of the one on the Mall in London. It was erected as a project of the local branch of the War Amps of Canada and recently underwent restoration.

· King’s head carved in stone as one of the corbels of the six Sovereigns of Canada since Confederation that are in foyer of Senate of Canada, Ottawa.

· Full length Coronation portrait by Sir Gerald Kelly, copied by Robert Swain, together with his that of his Consort, Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother), Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Head on the famous giant Canadian 1951 nickel standing outdoors in Dynamic Earth, Ontario’s only outdoor science park, in Sudbury. The coin is the largest in the world.

· Crowned heads of the King and Queen Elizabeth are corbels at the Henderson Gate to the east side of the college quadrangle of Trinity College, 6 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto.

· The Royal Visit 1939 a large oil on canvas historical painting by Francis Owen Salisbury showing the King taking the salute at the entrance to the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings before meeting Parliament, giving the Royal Assent and addressing both houses, is in the House of Commons Heritage Collection.

EDWARD VIII

· The King’s head carved in stone as one of the corbels of the six Sovereigns of Canada since Confederation that are in foyer of the Senate of Canada, Ottawa.

· 1936 photolithograph of Edward VIII as King by Carl Vandyke, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Portrait of him in oils as Prince of Wales at Casa Loma, Toronto.

· Full figure in stained glass with King George V and Queen Mary in Silver Jubilee widow, St George’s Chapel, St James’ Cathedral, Toronto

· Models bearing his image produced by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1936 for the Canadian coinage, paper currency and stamps for the new Monarch can be seen at the Glenbow Centre Museum. They were saved from the destruction of dies carried out on the Abdication of Edward VIII.

GEORGE V

· Portrait of the King by Sie Wylie Grier in Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

· Full length image with companion one of his Consort, Queen Mary in the Silver Jubilee of George V window of St George’s Chapel. St James’s Cathedral, Toronto.

· Memorial head of the King by student in PCVI yearbook Echoes, Peterborough, 1936.

· Full length oil portrait by Sir Luke Fildes, 1913, with one of George V’s Consort, Queen Mary, after Sir William Llwelan, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. This painting was given by King George V in 1928 to replace the one destroyed in the 1916 fire that burned the Centre Block.

· Portrait with that of Queen Mary in the tea room, formerly the lounge of the Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC. At one time the hotel displayed four generations of royal portraits but the others have been withdrawn,

· Portrait of the King with companion one of Queen Mary by Count Berthold von Imhoff, St Walburg, Saskatchewan.

EDWARD VII

· A large and impressive statue of the King by Louis Hebert, known from its inscription as “le roi pacificateur”, Phillips Square, Montreal. It was unveiled by the sculptor himself on 1 October 1914 and shows the Monarch standing on a tall plinth, holding the sceptre, with the Royal Crown beside him and four allegorical figures at the base.

· Equestrian statue, north side of Queen’s Park, Toronto. It was brought to Canada from India by the businessman Henry Jackman and erected in Toronto by public subscription.

· Bust of the king as Prince of Wales created by Norton Edwards for the City of Toronto in 1866, upper hall of the St Lawrence Hall, King Street, Toronto.

· Portrait painted in 1903 by Sir Luke Fildes, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. This was a replacement for the portrait burned in the 1916 fire that destroyed the Centre Block. King George V presented it in 1928 for the 75th anniversary of Confederation the previous year.

· The original small portraits from which the state portraits of Edward VII and his Consort, Queen Alexandra were worked up by John Forbes for the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa but were destroyed in the fire of 1916 exist in private hands

· Head of the King carved in stone as one of the corbels of the six Sovereigns of Canada since Confederation that are in foyer of Senate of Canada, Ottawa.

· A sculptured head of King Edward VII and one of his consort Queen Alexandra can be found on pillars in the nave of St John the Baptist Cathedral, 16 Church Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

· Bas relief of the King with his dates on a monument to His Majesty, west side of Art Gallery of Vancouver (former Court House), Vancouver.

· Bust by Marshall Wood in the Library of Parliament, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, with companion one of Alexandra, both done as Prince and Princess of Wales.

VICTORIA

· Statue at the west end of The Gore, Hamilton, Ontario. Designed by the great Canadian sculptor Louis Hebert, it was erected entirely through public subscription following Queen Victoria’s death and unveiled by the Governor-Geneerl, Earl Grey, 25 May 1908.

· Statue of the Queen seated on the Throne and wearing the small crown created for her in 1870. Side panels of the plinth illustrate her accession council in 1837 and her lying in state in 1901, at front right of the Legislature, Queen’s Park, Toronto

· Head carved in stone as one of the corbels of the six Sovereigns of Canada since Confederation that are in foyer of Senate of Canada, Ottawa.

· Victoria Memorial, west side, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. The creation of Louis Hebert, Canada’s greatest sculptor, this statue of the mature Queen Victoria was intended to be for the Monarch’s Diamond Jubilee but though completed by 1900 did not go up until after her death. Victoria is wearing robes of state, her small crown, holding a sceptre and in her left hand extending a scroll on which is written “Constitutional Liberty”. An allegorical figure representing Canada is offering the Queen a laurel wreath and a lion stands on guard.

· Queen Victoria enthroned on the first Great Seal of the Dominion of Canada 1867 is carved in the wall of the Hall of Honour, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· 1842 portrait by John Partridge. It is one of only three paintings saved from the Parliament Buildings in Montreal when they were burned by the mob protesting the implementation of Responsible Government, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. Not only was the portrait saved from the 1849 fire but also saved again from three subsequent fires.

· Portrait of Queen Victoria, Tent Room, Government House, Ottawa.

· Head and shoulders marble bust on the stone reredos of the Throne of Canada in the Senate, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Larger than life size white marble statue of the young Victoria by Marshall Wood completed in 1871 that dominates the Library of Parliament, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Victoria Memorial, Victoria Square, Montreal. A Marshall Wood statue of the young Queen Victoria shows her wearing a diadem of lilies, holding a laurel crown in her left hand and a sceptre in her right. The statue was unveiled in 1872.

· Very graceful statue of the Queen crowned and holding sceptre and orb designed by her daughter H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Montreal.

· Statue at Manitoba Legislature, Winnipeg torn down by rioters. The vandals were not arrested and the government removed the statue.

· Oval profile of Queen Victoria by John Lyle is part of the decoration of the Canadian modernised classical former Dominion / Toronto Dominion Bank, 380 Yonge Street, Toronto. [See also Louis XIV.]

· Life size portrait by John Theodore Berthon 1855, Osgoode Hall, Toronto.

· A window in St Jude’a Anglican Church parish hall, which was built in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, depicts the Queen in robes of state. St Jude’s Parish Hall, 160 William Street, Oakville, Ontario

· Statue of the young Queen Victoria wearing St Edward’s Crown and holding the sceptre stands in front of the British Columbia Legislature, Victoria, BC.

· Small Coronation statue of Queen Victoria standing and wearing the Crown and Coronation robes and holding a sceptre and orb is over the doorway to the Birge Carnegie Library in the west façade of Emmanuel College, Victoria University (named for Queen Victoria), Queen’s Park Circle, Toronto.

· Bust of Queen Victoria in the Victoria University Archives, Toronto.

· Three quarter face of Victoria on the Albert Memorial Bridge, Regina.

· Cathedral memorial window of 1903 depicts Queen Victoria in prayer opposite her ancestor King Alfred the Great, Monarch of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. A pillar in the nave has a sculptured head of the Queen and another one of her husband Prince Albert the Prince Consort. St John the Baptist Cathedral, 16 Church Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

· Head and other pieces of the statue of Queen Victoria erected in 1897 for her Diamond Jubilee in Victoria Square, Quebec City but blown up by Separatists in 1963 can be seen at the Musee de la civilisation, Quebec City. There was an attempt to restore it in 2008 for the Quatrecentenary of the city but it was found some of the pieces had been destroyed.

· The Artist Painting Queen Victoria, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. It shows Canadian artist Frederick Marlett Bell-Smith painting Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in 1895 with Princess Louise standing to the artist’s left observing his method of working. Bell-Smith was extremely privileged to be accorded a sitting by the Queen who was very shy about giving them to artists. Out of this interesting portrait came also the painting by Bell-Smith called The Queen’s Tribute to Canada 1900 showing Her Majesty at the bier of her Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Thompson who died while staying with the Queen at the Castle.

· Large statue of Victoria as the mature Queen standing on a plinth near the main drive of Victoria Park, Kitchener, Ontario.

· A head and shoulders image of Queen Victoria in profile occupies the left light of the two-light Diamond Jubilee Window above the Senate entrance to the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The window commemorates the Diamond Jubilees celebrated by the two Queens, Victoria and Elizabeth II in 1897 and 20012 respectively. (See also Elizabeth II.) Above Queen Victoria is her royal cypher VRI and below a natural red maple leaf. Queen Elizabeth II chose the set of drop earrings and diamond necklace made for Queen Victoria in 1858 as the set of jewellery for the Queens to be depicted wearing in the two window panes.

· Crowned head of Queen Victoria on a shield on the west side of the Peace Tower below the first window of the Memorial Chamber, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Rare painting of the young Princess Victoria with her mother the Duchess of Kent on the wall of Ian Kimmerley Stamps, Sparks Street Mall, Ottawa.

· Portrait by Count Berthold von Imhoff, St Walburg, Saskatchewan.

WILLIAM IV

· 1831 engraving of King William IV by Frederick Christian Lewis, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Modern portrait of the King by Louise Topping is on display in the Castle Hill Museum, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.

· Portrait of himself as King painted just after he came to the Throne in 1830. William IV sent the portrait as a mark of favour to Nova Scotia doubtless recalling his youthful days there when in the Royal Navy. It hangs in the hallway of Province House outside the Red Chamber, Halifax. The King is painted in ermine and velvet robes, resting his hand on a gilt-legged table on which rests the Imperial State Crown.

GEORGE IV

· He is shown seated on the Throne granting the royal charter of King’s College, forerunner of the University of Toronto, in 1826 on W. Scott Carter’s great 1934 historical mural, Map Room, second floor, Hart House, University of Toronto.

· Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

GEORGE III

· Copy of the 1786 Sir Joshua Reynolds portrait showing the King seated wearing royal robes and holding a sword with a companion portrait of his consort Queen Charlotte, New Brunswick Assembly, Fredericton

· Full length portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1779, with a companion portrait painted about 1786 of his Consort, Queen Charlotte, Senate Foyer, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. The legend surrounding these two royal portraits is that King George III sent them to thank Canadians for their loyalty during the American Revolution.

· Marble head of the full size statue of himself which the King in 1766 sent to Montreal as part of his reconciling policy towards his new French-speaking subjects. It was set up in Place d’Armes. In 1775 the statue was desecrated by the English-speaking community in the city who were sympathetic to the American revolutionaries. The vandals tried to make it look as though it was the French Canadians who had done the deed. Only the head was recovered. Mc Cord Museum, McGill University, 690 rue Sherbrooke, Montreal.

GEORGE II

· Head on a medal given by the King to aboriginal chiefs in Canada, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa.

· Head of the King carved into the wall over the door to the House of Commons, Ottawa.

· Enoch Seeman’s portrait of George II`s Consort, Queen Caroline, Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

GEORGE I

· Full-length portrait of the King standing with his right hand resting on the orb, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Province House (the Nova Scotia Legislature), Halifax.

ANNE

· Shown receiving the Four Mohawk Kings in London 20 April 1710, in a stained glass widow in St Paul’s Chapel Royal of the Mohawks, Brantford, Ontario.

The window was donated to the Chapel Royal by the Anglican Diocese of Huron.

WILLIAM III and MARY II

· Seventeenth century ceramic charger showing both King William iii and Queen Mary II as joint Sovereigns wearing their crowns is on display at the George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.

· The annual Toronto Orange Parade which now takes place in Scarborough is held on the nearest Saturday to July 12 which was the date when King William III won the Battle of the Boyne. The Parade includes a figure dressed as King William III riding on a white horse.

· Profile portrait of King William III in classical dress. Capt Roberts House, Royal Naval and Military Establishments, Penetanguishene, Ontario.

JAMES II

· His portrait by Huysmans showing his as Duke of York and Heir Presumptive to the Throne is in the possession of the Hudson’s Bay Company, whose second Governor he was.

· The portrait belonging to the University of St Michael’s College, Toronto that was long thought to be King James II as Duke of York is no longer considered to be.

· Picture of Anne Hyde, first wife of King James II but when he was Duke of York. The Duchess who was responsible for his conversion to Catholicism died before her husband became King and so she was never Queen. Todd House, Royal Naval and Military Establishments, Penetanguishene, Ontario.

CHARLES II

· A full figure of the K|ing, crowned and seated on the Throne is shown on the charter he granted in 1670 constituting the Hudson’s Bay Company.

· The Hudson’s Bay Company has the Lely portrait of King Charles II seated, wearing the Great George and with the Royal Crown sitting on a table on his right. The Company also possesses the Lely portrait of the King’s first cousin His Highness Prince Rupert of the Rhine, first Governor of the Company for which he obtained its famous charter from the King.

· Picture of Queen Catherine – Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese Princess – the Consort of King Charles II, Todd House, Royal Naval and Military Establishments, Penetanguishene, Ontario.

CHARLES I

· The 1633 Henry Stone portrait of King Charles I which was one of four court approved copies of the famous Sir Anthony Vann Dyke equestrian portrait of the Sovereign is on extended loan to Massey College, the graduate college of the University of Toronto. It is located at the top of the main staircase.

· The wall of the Baronets of Nova Scotia at the Hector National Exhibit Centre and Archives, 86 Old Haliburton Road, Pictou, Nova Scotia shows the coats of arms of the Baronets surrounding a portrait of King Charles I. The King founded the Order of the Baronets of Nova Scotia in1625 as a way to settle the province and until 1638 specific land grants in Nova Scotia went with each Baronetcy. The outbreak of the Great Rebellion prevented the Crown from continuing the project.

· St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, 509 Dundas Street East, Toronto, has a parish banner depicting Charles I. Because he refused to abandon episcopacy to save his life the King has been regarded as a saint by a large portion of Anglicans and devotion to him developed. At the Restoration Parliament inserted into the Book of Common Prayer “A Form Of Prayer With Fasting, To be used yearly on the Thirtieth of January, Being the Day of the Martyrdom of the Blessed King Charles yhe First”. The service was used in Canada.,

· Tapestry depicting Charles I’s farewell to two of his children, Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth, before his murder on the scaffold. Surrey Museum, Surrey British Columbia.

JAMES I

· Stained glass widow on the epistle side of the Founders’ Chapel of Wycliffe College, 5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto shows the King in 1611 with members of the committee charged by him with the production of the Authorised Version of the Bible, the so-called “King James version”, which remained for centuries the bible

every country where English was spoken.

ELIZABETH I

· Her head and shoulders portrait is on a twenty-four cent Newfoundland postage stamp marking the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s financing of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s search for the Northwest Passage and her grant of a Royal Charter to authorise him to settle Newfoundland. Postage Museum, Ottawa.

MARY I and PHILIP

EDWARD VI

· Stained glass window showing the boy King listening to a sermon by the Reformation Bishop , St James’ Cathedral, King Street East and Church Street, Toronto.

HENRY VIII

· The King appears as the central figure in the stained glass window called “The Royal Injunction”, being shown seated on the Throne granting Miles Coverdale a licence to translate the Bible into English. First window on the epistle side, Founders Chapel, Wycliffe College, 5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto.

HENRY VII

· The head of the Sovereign who sent Giovanni Caboto on his 1497 voyage of discovery and financed the later voyage is carved into the wall over the door to the House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. Henry VII founded one of the two lines of Monarchs who reigned over Canada. In a letter His Majesty mentions the “new found land”, the first recorded mention of the name of Canada’s tenth province.

LOUIS XV

· A Charles-André van Loo portrait of the King of about 1740, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Governor’s Palace, Fortress of Louisburg, Nova Scotia. The restored Palace has a splendid portrait of King Louis XV.

· Large fill-length miral of King Louis XV in royal robes of blue with golden fleurs-de-lys and his state coach in the background takes up whole of one side of the Royal Coach Dining Room of the Chateau Louis Hotel and Conference Centre, 11727 Kingsway Northwest, Edmonton. It is highly unlikely that the decorators who produced the mural gave any thought to the relevance of the subject to the city and province LOUIS XIV

· Portrait of about 1700 by Hyacinthe Rigaud, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· Oval profile of the King by John Lyle is part of the decoration on the Canadian classical modernised former Dominion / Toronto Dominion Bank, 380 Yonge Street, Toronto.

· Bust of the King after Bernini in Place Royale, Quebec City, given by the Government of France to replace the original that stood there having been sent to the City of Quebec by King Louis XIV. The original bust was destroyed in the siege of Quebec by Wolfe.

· Governor’s Palace, Fortress of Louisburg, Nova Scotia. A fine portrait of the Sun King, Louis XIV, in whose honour the fortress was named, hangs in the Palace.

· Head of the King on the largest of the royal French regime Indian Medals at the Chateau de Ramezay, Montreal. The King’s head is surrounded by members of the Royal Family, including Louis the Grand Dauphin and his two children Louis the Duke of Burgundy and Philip the future King Philip V of Spain. The medal showed the order of succession to the Throne.

· In assessing the reputation of Canada’s last Bourbon King, it is helpful to recall the view of Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé in his Memoirs: “It is quite remarkable”, he writes, “that I have never heard a man of the people blame Louis XV for the disasters that befell the Canadians after the colony was left to its own resources. If anyone accused the monarch, Jean-Baptiste would retort, “Bah! It was La Pompadour [Louis XV’s powerful mistress] who sold the country to the English!” And he would launch into abuse of the lady”

LOUIS XIII

· Portrait of about 1630 by Philippe de Champagne, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

· His Queen, Anne of Austria is the model for the French Queen shown on the banks of the St Lawrence River in Frère Luc’s 1670 painting La France apportant la foi aux Hurons. The Queen is crowned and wearing blue velvet royal robes on which are scattered gold fleurs-de-lys. Ursuline Convent, Quebec City.

HENRI IV

· Painting by Philippe de Champagne, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament B|uildings, Ottawa.

HENRI III

FRANCOIS II

HENRI II

· Portrait, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

FRANCOIS I

· The head of the King who sent Jacques Cartier of his voyage of discovery in1534 is carved into the wall over the door to the House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. He founded the line of French Kings who reigned over Canada.

· 1820 painting of Francois I after Titian, Francophonie Gallery, Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa.

KING ST LOUIS IX

· The ancestor of all Canada’s French and English / British Kings, the figure of St Louis IX is found in the right side of the East Window of St Bartholomew’s Church, Ottawa, the parish church of Government House, It was placed there by His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, to commemorate the ten men of his staff who gave their lives in the First World War.

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Royal Armed Forces Appointments 2022

by Garry Toffoli

Members of the Royal Family have maintained a special relationship with the armed forces of Canada for well over two hundred years. At the highest level, the Command-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Canada is vested in Her Majesty The Queen, as declared by the Constitution Act 1867, as it had been vested in all her predecessors. But the personal relationship is also deeper and more extensive.

It was the armed forces that first brought a member of the Royal Family to Canadian shores. In 1786, the third son of King George III, Prince William, later Duke of Clarence and the future King William IV, arrived in Canada, travelling to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec on active naval service as Captain of HMS Pegasus. Then, in 1791, his younger brother, Prince Edward, arrived as a 23-year-old colonel and commanding officer of the Royal Fusiliers. He served in Quebec City and travelled throughout what are now the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. He then served in Halifax, where, in 1799 as the Duke of Kent, he became Commander-in-Chief of all the forces in British North America. Under his direction the citadel in Halifax and other military preparations, which would help ward off the American invaders in the War of 1812, were constructed or strengthened. The Prince remained in Canada until 1800, a nine-year residence, and held the title of Commander-in-Chief until 1802. He subsequently became the father of Queen Victoria and thus the ancestor of the modern Canadian Royal Family.

One of the Duke protégés was Colonel Charles de Salaberry, the son of French-Canadian friends from his time in Quebec, whose military career he fostered. Col de Salaberry became the “Hero of Châteaugauy” in the War of 1812 for his victory against the Americans, and the Duke was a subscriber and patron of a fund for veterans of the war. Kent’s time as Commander-in-Chief led him to be a proponent of Canadian Confederation as early as 1814. Lord Durham, in the famous Durham Report of 1840, quoted the Duke’s correspondence with Chief Justice Jonathan Sewell of Lower Canada, which had supported the idea of union.

In 1829 Colonel Charles Richard Fox, the husband of King William IV’s illegitimate, but acknowledged, daughter, Lady Mary Fitzclarence, came to Nova Scotia with his wife when he commanded the 34th Regiment, which was stationed in the province.

So far two other members of the Royal Family have also held the office of Commander-in-Chief since the Duke of Kent, while they were Governors-General. They were Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, 1911-1916; and the Earl of Athlone, brother of Queen Mary and great-grandson of King George III, 1940-1946.

Members of the Royal Family since the Duke of Kent have also seen active service in Canada or with Canadian forces. The Duke of Connaught first came to Canada in 1870 when he fought against the Fenians (Irish-American terrorists who attacked Canada from the United States) at Eccles Hill, south of Montreal, and earned the Canadian General Service Medal with “Fenian Raid 1870” bar. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (second son of Queen Victoria) was in Halifax while serving with the North Atlantic Squadron of the Royal Navy. King George V also came to Canada in the late 19th Century while a young naval officer. King George VI first came to Canada in 1913 as a serving midshipman in the Royal Navy. King Edward VIII served for a time in the Canadian Corps on the Western Front in World War I, while he was the Prince of Wales. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was second in command of HMS Wallace when that ship supported the Canadian landings in Sicily in World War II.

In more modern times Prince Charles, Prince of Wales undertook some of his training with the Royal Marines in the 1970s at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick and his son, Prince Harry of Wales (now the Duke of Sussex), trained at CFB Suffield in 2007 and 2008 in preparation for his postings to Afghanistan. And many members of the Royal Family have received the Canadian Forces Decoration. These include The Queen, the late Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of York, The Princess Royal, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Countess Mountbatten.

The most extensive relationship of the Royal Family with the Canadian Forces is through the office of Colonel-in-Chief. The position of Colonel-in-Chief is a special one in the Canadian Army of the Canadian Armed Forces. Each Colonel-in-Chief is the head of a regimental family that is at the heart of the Canadian military structure. (In the Royal Canadian Artillery the official designation is Captain-General.)

Some members of the Royal Family have held an appointment for decades. The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was Colonel-Chief of The Royal Canadian Regiment from 1953 until his death in 2021 – over 67 years. In addition to many other Colonelcies-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh also held the ranks of Admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy, Captain-General in the Canadian Army and General in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was an Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit of Canada. The late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was Colonel-in-Chief of the Toronto Scottish Regiment from 1937 until her death in 2002 – 65 years. The Queen has been Colonel-in-Chief of the 48th Highlanders of Canada for 74 years, since 1948, when she was Princess Elizabeth.

In 2006 the Royal Navy created the office of Commodore-in-Chief, held by members of the Royal Family, and in 2015 the Royal Canadian Navy followed suit. It is comparable to the Army’s Colonel-in-Chief.

Current Commodore-in-Chief appointments in the Royal Canadian Navy and Colonel-in-Chief / Captain-General Appointments in the Canadian Army:

HM THE QUEEN

The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery [regular force (Royal Canadian Horse Artillery) and reserve units throughout Canada]

The Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

The Canadian Guards [currently at nil strength, on Supplementary Order of Battle]

Royal 22e Régiment du Canada [3 regular force battalions – Ville de Québec and Valcartier Garrison, Québec]

The Governor General’s Horse Guards [Toronto, Ontario]

The King’s Own Calgary Regiment (R.C.A.C.) [Calgary, Alberta]

Governor General’s Foot Guards [Ottawa, Ontario]

The Canadian Grenadier Guards [Montreal, Quebec]

The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders [Cornwall, Ontario]

Le Régiment de la Chaudière [Lévis, Beauceville and Lac Mégantic, Québec]

4e Batallion, Royal 22e Régiment du Canada (Châteauguay) [Montréal and St-Jérôme, Québec]

6e Batallion, Royal 22e Régiment du Canada [St-Hyacinthe and Drummondville, Québec]

1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton and York) [Fredericton, Edmunston, Grand Falls / Grand-Sault and Saint John, New Brunswick]

48th Highlanders of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s) [Hamilton, Ontario]

The Calgary Highlanders [Calgary, Alberta]

The Rocky Mountain Rangers [Kamloops, British Columbia]

The Canadian Armed Forces Legal Services Branch [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

The Queen is also Sovereign of the Order of Military Merit of Canada.

HRH THE PRINCE CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES

Commodore-in-Chief, The Royal Canadian Navy, Fleet Atlantic

The Royal Canadian Dragoons [regular force – Garrison Petawawa]

Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) [regular force – Edmonton Garrison]

The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada [Montreal, Quebec]

The Royal Regiment of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

The Royal Winnipeg Rifles [Winnipeg, Manitoba]

2nd Battalion, The Irish Regiment of Canada [Sudbury, Ontario]

The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Own) [Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario]

The Prince of Wales also holds the ranks of Vice-Admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy, Lieutenant General in the Canadian Army and Lieutenant General in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and is an Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Military Merit of Canada.

HRH THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL (CAMILLA)

The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

HRH PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE

Honorary Canadian Ranger

HRH THE PRINCE EDWARD, EARL OF WESSEX

The Saskatchewan Dragoons [Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan]

The Prince Edward Island Regiment (R.C.A.C.) [Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island]

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment [Belleville, Cobourg and Peterborough, Ontario]

HRH THE COUNTESS OF WESSEX (SOPHIE)

The South Alberta Light Horse [Medicine Hat and Edmonton, Alberta]

The Lincoln and Welland Regiment [St Catharines and Niagara Falls, Ontario]

HRH THE PRINCESS ANNE, PRINCESS ROYAL

Commodore-in-Chief, The Royal Canadian Navy, Fleet Pacific

8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s Own) [Moncton, 5CDSB Gagetown, Sussex and Sackville, New Brunswick]

The Royal Canadian Hussars [Montreal, Quebec]

The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada] and Communications and Electronics Branch

The Grey and Simcoe Foresters [Owen Sound, Barrie and Collingwood, Ontario]

The Royal Regina Rifles [Regina, Saskatchewan]

1st Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment [St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador]

2nd Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment [Corner Brook, Grand Falls and Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador]

The Royal Canadian Medical Service [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

HRH THE DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER (BIRGITTE)

The Royal Canadian Dental Corps [regular and reserve units throughout Canada]

HRH PRINCE EDWARD, THE DUKE OF KENT

The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment) [Brampton, Oakville and Georgetown, Ontario]

HRH PRINCE MICHAEL OF KENT

The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment [Windsor and Chatham, Ontario]

HRH PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF KENT, THE HON. LADY OGILVY

The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) [Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Courtney, British Columbia]

Royal Names in The Royal Canadian Navy

In the Royal Canadian Navy all ships and naval reserve divisions (“stone frigates”) carry the prefix HMCS / NCSM – Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship / Navire Canadien de Sa Majesté, but in addition several ships and naval reserve divisions bear the names of members of the Royal Family.

Frigates

HMCS Charlottetown [named after the capital of Prince Edward Island, which was named for Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III]

HMCS Fredericton [named after the capital of New Brunswick, which was named for Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III]

HMCS Regina [named after the capital of Saskatchewan, which was named for Queen Victoria – “regina” is Latin for “queen”]

Submarines

HMCS Victoria [named after the capital of British Columbia, which was named for Queen Victoria]

HMCS Windsor [named after the Ontario city, which was named for the Castle and Royal House of Windsor]

Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels

HMCS Kingston [named after the Ontario city, which was named for King George III – “King’s Town”]

Naval Reserve Divisions

HMCS Brunswicker [located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, named for the Royal House of Brunswick (King George I through Queen Victoria)]

HMCS Queen [located in Regina, Saskatchewan, named for Queen Victoria]

HMCS Queen Charlotte [located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, named for the wife of King George III]

HMCS York [located in Toronto, Ontario, named for Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III, for whom Toronto was originally named “York”]

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Royal Armed Forces Appointments 2023

by Garry Toffoli

Members of the Royal Family have maintained a special relationship with the armed forces of Canada for well over two hundred years. At the highest level, the Command-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Canada is vested in His Majesty The King, as declared by the Constitution Act 1867, as it had been vested in all his predecessors. But the personal relationship is also deeper and more extensive.

In more modern times the King, when Prince of Wales, undertook some of his training with the Royal Marines in the 1970s at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick and his son, Prince Harry of Wales (now the Duke of Sussex), trained at CFB Suffield in 2007 and 2008 in preparation for his postings to Afghanistan. And many members of the Royal Family have received the Canadian Forces Decoration. These include Queen Elizabeth II, the late Duke of Edinburgh, The King, The Duke of York, The Princess Royal, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and the late Countess Mountbatten.

Some members of the Royal Family have held an appointment for decades. The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was Colonel-Chief of The Royal Canadian Regiment from 1953 until his death in 2021 – over 67 years. In addition to many other Colonelcies-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh also held the ranks of Admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy, Captain-General in the Canadian Army and General in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was an Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit of Canada. The late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was Colonel-in-Chief of the Toronto Scottish Regiment from 1937 until her death in 2002 – 65 years. Queen Elizabeth II was Colonel-in-Chief of the 48th Highlanders of Canada for 74 years, from 1948, when she was Princess Elizabeth, until her death in 2022.

Current Commodore-in-Chief appointments in the Royal Canadian Navy and Colonel-in-Chief / Captain-General Appointments in the Canadian Army:

APPOINTMENTS HELD BY HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II (these appointments have not yet been reallocated following her death in 2022)

The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery [regular force (Royal Canadian Horse Artillery) and reserve units throughout Canada]

The Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

The Canadian Guards [currently at nil strength, on Supplementary Order of Battle]

Royal 22e Régiment du Canada [3 regular force battalions – Ville de Québec and Valcartier Garrison, Québec]

The Governor General’s Horse Guards [Toronto, Ontario]

The King’s Own Calgary Regiment (R.C.A.C.) [Calgary, Alberta]

Governor General’s Foot Guards [Ottawa, Ontario]

The Canadian Grenadier Guards [Montreal, Quebec]

The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders [Cornwall, Ontario]

Le Régiment de la Chaudière [Lévis, Beauceville and Lac Mégantic, Québec]

4e Batallion, Royal 22e Régiment du Canada (Châteauguay) [Montréal and St-Jérôme, Québec]

6e Batallion, Royal 22e Régiment du Canada [St-Hyacinthe and Drummondville, Québec]

1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton and York) [Fredericton, Edmunston, Grand Falls / Grand-Sault and Saint John, New Brunswick]

48th Highlanders of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s) [Hamilton, Ontario]

The Calgary Highlanders [Calgary, Alberta]

The Rocky Mountain Rangers [Kamloops, British Columbia]

The Canadian Armed Forces Legal Services Branch [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

Queen Elizabeth II was also Sovereign of the Order of Military Merit of Canada.

HM THE KING

Commodore-in-Chief, The Royal Canadian Navy, Fleet Atlantic

The Royal Canadian Dragoons [regular force – Garrison Petawawa]

Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) [regular force – Edmonton Garrison]

The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada [Montreal, Quebec]

The Royal Regiment of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

The Royal Winnipeg Rifles [Winnipeg, Manitoba]

2nd Battalion, The Irish Regiment of Canada [Sudbury, Ontario]

The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Own) [Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario]

Honorary Canadian Ranger

Honorary Commissioner of The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The King also holds the ranks of Vice-Admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy, Lieutenant General in the Canadian Army and Lieutenant General in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and is Sovereign of the Order of Military Merit of Canada.

* In due course the King will undoubtedly assume some of the appointments held by Queen Elizabeth II, especially of the Guards regiments, and will assume the higher ranks of Admiral and General.

HM THE QUEEN

The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada [Toronto, Ontario]

HRH THE PRINCE WILLIAM, PRINCE OF WALES

Honorary Canadian Ranger

HRH THE PRINCE EDWARD, DUKE OF EDINBURGH

The Saskatchewan Dragoons [Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan]

The Prince Edward Island Regiment (R.C.A.C.) [Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island]

The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment [Belleville, Cobourg and Peterborough, Ontario]

HRH THE DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH (SOPHIE)

The South Alberta Light Horse [Medicine Hat and Edmonton, Alberta]

The Lincoln and Welland Regiment [St Catharines and Niagara Falls, Ontario]

HRH THE PRINCESS ANNE, PRINCESS ROYAL

Commodore-in-Chief, The Royal Canadian Navy, Fleet Pacific

8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s Own) [Moncton, 5CDSB Gagetown, Sussex and Sackville, New Brunswick]

The Royal Canadian Hussars [Montreal, Quebec]

The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada] and Communications and Electronics Branch

The Grey and Simcoe Foresters [Owen Sound, Barrie and Collingwood, Ontario]

The Royal Regina Rifles [Regina, Saskatchewan]

1st Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment [St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador]

2nd Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment [Corner Brook, Grand Falls and Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador]

The Royal Canadian Medical Service [regular force and reserve units throughout Canada]

HRH THE DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER (BIRGITTE)

The Royal Canadian Dental Corps [regular and reserve units throughout Canada]

HRH PRINCE EDWARD, THE DUKE OF KENT

The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment) [Brampton, Oakville and Georgetown, Ontario]

HRH PRINCE MICHAEL OF KENT

The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment [Windsor and Chatham, Ontario]

HRH PRINCESS ALEXANDRA OF KENT, THE HON. LADY OGILVY

The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) [Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Courtney, British Columbia]

Royal Names in The Royal Canadian Navy

In the Royal Canadian Navy all ships and naval reserve divisions (“stone frigates”) carry the prefix HMCS / NCSM – His Majesty’s Canadian Ship / Navire canadien de Sa Majesté, but in addition several ships and naval reserve divisions bear the names of members of the Royal Family.

Frigates

HMCS Charlottetown [named after the capital of Prince Edward Island, which was named for Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III]

HMCS Fredericton [named after the capital of New Brunswick, which was named for Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III]

HMCS Regina [named after the capital of Saskatchewan, which was named for Queen Victoria – “regina” is Latin for “queen”]

Submarines

HMCS Victoria [named after the capital of British Columbia, which was named for Queen Victoria]

HMCS Windsor [named after the Ontario city, which was named for the Castle and Royal House of Windsor]

Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels

HMCS Kingston [named after the Ontario city, which was named for King George III – “King’s Town”]

Naval Reserve Divisions

HMCS Brunswicker [located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, named for the Royal House of Brunswick (King George I through Queen Victoria)]

HMCS Queen [located in Regina, Saskatchewan, named for Queen Victoria]

HMCS Queen Charlotte [located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, named for the wife of King George III]

HMCS York [located in Toronto, Ontario, named for Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of King George III, for whom Toronto was originally named “York”]

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Royal Heritage Quiz

1) Armed Forces and The Crown

a) What is the origin of the RAF/RCAF roundels?

b) What is on top of the jack and ensign staffs of Canadian warships?

c) What did King George V decree for the Van Doos?

d) Which royal hold a rank in the Canadian Armed Forces other than colonel-in-chief or equivalent?

e) What is the meaning of NCSM?

2) Cinema and Television About Canada and Monarchy

a) In “49th Parallel” (1941) what does the German sailor rip from the wall in the Hudson’s Bay Company post?

b) Which Canadian opera singer and actress sings the theme song of the 1961 movie “The Canadians”?

c) Which 1979 British-Canadian film about murder and monarchy featured four Canadian stars?

d) Which iconic 1990s Canadian character rejects romance because Queen Elizabeth II is the woman in his life?

e) How was Canada ignored in the 2010 film “The King’s Speech”?

3) Commonwealth Reigns

a) Whose reign was the shortest?

b) Which monarchs had reigns that were divided in two?

c) Which period of Commonwealth history officially never happened?

d) Which realm had two kings at the same time?

e) Which were the years of three kings?

4) Customs

a) Name three examples of men’s fashion created by King Edward VII.

b) Who are the four kings in a deck of cards?

c) Why was the monarch butterfly given its name?

d) What is the connection between pizza and monarchy?

e) Why are blue ribbons given as 1st class prizes?

5) Death and Kingship

a) Who was the last king to be killed?

b) Which ancestor of Prince William and Prince Harry is buried in Canada?

c) Which major artefact of Queen Victoria’s funeral is in Canada?

d) Which prominent Canadian died at Queen Victoria’s dining table?

e) What change did Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral institute in British and Canadian flag protocol?

6) Elections, Parliament and The Crown

a) The heads of which monarchs are carved by the doors of the House of Commons in Ottawa?

b) What is the meaning of the name “House of Commons”?

c) How is royal assent given?

d) What is the origin of the mace?

e) What does “drop the writ” mean?

7) Literature Loyal

a) Who wrote the first story set in Canada?

b) Which king wrote an attack on smoking?

c) What is the title of the King’s children’s story?

d) Which Canadian political economist also wrote humorous stories of royal tours?

e) Which writer first coined the term “True North” for Canada?

8) London, the King’s City

a) Where does the name Constitution Hill come from?

b) What is the origin of Rotten Row?

c) How did the Royal Mews get its name?

d) What is the difference between the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders?

e) What is the official entrance to the Buckingham Palace grounds?

9) Regalia and Canada

a) How and why was the diamond maple leaf brooch acquired and which royals have worn it?

b) Which major artefacts from Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation are in Canada and where are they?

c) What is the Sovereign’s Sword?

d) What is the Last Spike Brooch?

e) What is unique about the Black Rod of the Province of New Brunswick?

10) Royals in Canada

a) Who was the youngest royal to come to Canada, and when?

b) Who was the oldest royal to come to Canada, and when?

c) Name at least five occupations that brought royals to Canada other than royal tours.

d) Which children of Queen Victoria came to Canada?

e) What, where, when and why was a home acquired in Canada for King George VI?

11) Royal Ottawa

a) Where did the wood for the top of the new Senate Thrones come from?

b) Whose coat of arms is on the back of the historic Consort’s Throne?

c) Who was the first royal to visit the grounds of Rideau Hall?

d) What are the connections between the Ceremonial Guard and the Battle of Waterloo?

e) In 2019 the equestrian statue of Queen Elizabeth II was moved where?

12) Royal Place Names

a) Which Canadian Provinces have royal names?

b) Which Australian States have royal names?

c) Which American States have royal names?

d) Which Canadian capital cities have, or had, royal names?

e) What is the connection between the City of Guelph and the Royal Family?

13) Royal Ontario

a) Who was the first royal to visit Southern Ontario?

b) Where did the statue of King Edward VII in Queen’s Park, Toronto come from?

c) What was the original name of the Princes’ Gates and why was it changed?

d) Why is there a crown in the centre of the Toronto Police Service badge?

e) Dundurn Castle is the ancestral home of which royal?

14) Sports and Royals

a) Which royal was a major NHL award named after?

b) What is the second jewel in the Triple Crown of Canadian thoroughbred horse racing?

c) When and where was the first royal hockey game played?

d) Where was the Connaught Park racetrack (named after Queen Victoria’s son)?

e) Did Queen Elizabeth II attend a Canadian Football League game and, if so, when?

15) Theatre Royal

a) What did Kaiser Wilhelm II say when the House of Windsor was created in 1917?

b) Why did Shakespeare write Macbeth?

c) Which British and Canadian theatrical shows present pageants of royal history?

d) Which musical includes the song “I’m A Monarchist”?

e) Name at least two theatres in Toronto with royal monikers.

16) True or False

a) The monarch has to be an Anglican.

b) Queen Elizabeth II was a citizen, while a monarch.

c) Princess Charlotte of Wales is descended from George Washington.

d) Royal baptisms have a direct connection to the Holy Land.

e) With the 2013 changes to the Royal Marriages Act, a royal can be married in a Catholic church.

f) Eight generations of the Royal Family have lived in Canada.

g) Rideau Hall is a palace.

h) Canada has ties to the Monarchy.

i) The Governor General is Commander in Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.

i) Queen Elizabeth II was the second longest reigning monarch over Canada.

Royal Heritage Quiz Answers

1) ARMED FORCES AND THE CROWN

a) What is the origin of the RAF / RCAF roundels?

- They are based on the tricolour cockade of the French Revolution that overthrew monarchy. At the start of World War I British aircraft were marked by a Union Jack, French by the revolutionary cockade / roundel of blue, white and red, and German by an Iron Cross. From a distance the Union Jack couldn’t be distinguished from the Iron Cross, so the Royal Flying Corps dropped the Union Jack and adopted a roundel like the French, but altered the colours by putting the red in the centre, then white and blue on the outside. This was retained when the Royal Air Force replaced the Royal Flying Corps and later by the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1945 the RCAF changed the red circle in the centre of the roundel to a red maple leaf. The Royal Australian Air Force has used a red kangaroo since 1956 and the Royal New Zealand Air Force a red kiwi bird since the late 1960s.

b) What is on top of the jack and ensign staffs of Canadian warships?

- St Edward’s Crown.

c) What did King George V decree for the Van Doos?

- Van Doos is the colloquial corruption of vingt-deux (twenty-two). The regiment was created in World War I as the 22nd Battalion (French Canadian) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. After the war the battalion was retained as a regular force unit as the Royal 22e Régiment du Canada. The King, who gave them the royal designation, also declared that the name should always be given in French and never translated into English, even in English texts.

d) Which royal holds a rank in the Canadian Armed Forces other than colonel-in-chief or equivalent?

- The King is a Vice Admiral and a Lieutenant General, ranks he has held since 2009, when he was Prince of Wales.

e) What is the meaning of NCSM?

- Navire canadien de Sa Majesté (His Majesty’s Canadian Ship in French). It is the equivalent of HMCS used before the ship’s name.

2) CINEMA AND TELEVISION ABOUT CANADA AND MONARCHY

a) In “49th Parallel” (1941) what does the German sailor rip from the wall in the Hudson’s Bay Company post?

- The picture of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with the caption “Le Roi et La Reine du Canada”. [The CRHT has a copy of the same picture from a 1939 Canadian French language calendar, in its archives.]

b) Which Canadian opera singer and actress sings the theme song of the 1961 movie “The Canadians”?

- Teresa Stratas. The song “This Is Canada”, alluding to the motto of the Mounties, “Maintiens Le Droit”, describes Canada as a land, “Where free men defend the Right for God and Queen.”

c) Which 1979 British-Canadian film about murder and monarchy featured four Canadian stars?

- “Murder By Decree”. Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes investigates allegations in Victorian England that the Duke of Clarence (elder son of the Prince of Wales) is Jack the Ripper and Palace officials are covering it up. Donald Sutherland, Susan Clark and Geneviève Bujold also star in the film.

d) Which iconic 1990s Canadian character rejects romance because Queen Elizabeth II is the woman in his life?

- RCMP Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross) in “Due South”. In Season 4, Episode 7, he rejects a romantic overture from a country singer by saying he has “obligations”. She remarks, “Another woman. I thought so.” He nods, then after she leaves he looks at the picture of the Queen in his room and mutters, “The things I do for you!”

e) How was Canada ignored in the 2010 film “The King’s Speech”?

- At the end of the film the King gives his speech at the start of World War II and amazes the officials, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Winston Churchill, who are present at the Palace, when he delivers the remarks over the radio without stuttering. In fact no officials were present on this occasion. They were present, however, at his speech in the London Guildhall on 23 June, when he impressed the audience by giving his account of the royal tour of Canada, which he and the Queen had just completed, without stuttering. The King and Queen said later that it was the tour of Canada that gave him the confidence to overcome his impediment as he had to give so many speeches. “Canada made us,” the Queen remarked.

3) COMMONWEALTH REIGNS

a) Whose reign was the shortest?

- Edward V (86 days). He died in the Tower of London at the age of 12 in 1483, believed to have been murdered by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, who then became Richard III.

b) Which monarchs had reigns that were divided in two?

- Henry VI (1422-1461 & 1470-1471) and Edward IV (1461-1470 & 1471-1483), overthrowing each other in turn during the Wars of the Roses.

c) Which period of Commonwealth history officially never happened?

- Oliver Cromwell’s republican dictatorship of 1649-1660, known as “The Commonwealth”. After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the King’s reign was backdated to the execution of his father in 1649, all legislation passed and decisions made under Cromwell that were retained were re-designated as having occurred in the reign of Charles II and assented to by the King, and the 1649-1660 Commonwealth was legally deemed to have never existed. This re-designation of history also applies to the legal records of the several realms of the modern Commonwealth, including Canada.

d) Which realm had two kings at the same time?

- The Irish Free State on 10 & 11 December, 1936. By a technical mistake Ireland proclaimed the accession of George VI before it recorded the abdication of his brother Edward VIII.

e) Which were the years of three kings?

- 1066 (Edward the Confessor, Harold and William I, the Conqueror), 1483 (Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III), 1936 (George V, Edward VIII and George VI).

4) CUSTOMS

a) Name three examples of men’s fashion created by King Edward VII.

- The dinner jacket, leaving the bottom button on a jacket or waistcoat undone, cuffs on trousers. As Prince of Wales, the King adopted the shorter dinner jacket as a less formal dress than white tie and tails for evenings at a club. On one occasion he arranged for an American acquaintance visiting London to acquire a dinner jacket from his tailor so he could attend a gathering. The American took his dinner jacket back to the United States and introduced it to his own club, the Tuxedo Country Club in New York State. That is why Americans call the dinner jacket a tuxedo. As the Prince of Wales put on weight in middle age he found it uncomfortable to connect the bottom buttons on his jackets and waistcoats, so he starting leaving them undone. Immediately, other men, no matter how thin themselves, followed his practice and to this day gentlemen do not do up the bottom button on their jacket or waistcoat. Also, as Prince of Wales, Edward VII started the style of cuffed trousers, which then also were regarded as the more elegant attire.

b) Who are the four kings in a deck of cards?

- The king of spades is King David of the Bible, the “man of the sword”. Spade comes from the Italian spada for sword. The king of spades is holding a sword. The king of clubs is Alexander the Great, conqueror of the world. The king of clubs is holding an orb or globe. The king of diamonds is Julius Caesar. He is holding a fasces, an axe-like symbol of authority in ancient Rome (from which fascism takes its name). The king of hearts is the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who re-established the Roman Empire in the West, the senior and most magnificently dressed king in the deck.

c) Why was the monarch butterfly given its name?

- When English settlers in the Thirteen Colonies in the late 17th century discovered the butterfly, they were impressed by its distinctive orange coloured wings. They named it the monarch butterfly after the King, William III of the Royal House of Orange.

d) What is the connection between pizza and monarchy?

- In 1889 King Umberto I of Italy commissioned his chef to create a surprise for the birthday dinner for his wife Queen Margherita. The chef, Raffaele Esposito, created the classic pizza. The colours of Italy were incorporated – red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella cheese) and green (basil). This original style pizza is known to this day as Pizza Margherita.

e) Why are blue ribbons given as 1st class prizes?

- Inspired by the mythical Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur, in 1348 Edward III created the Order of the Garter, which remains the highest order of chivalry of the King. The ribbon of the order is blue, so blue became the colour associated with the highest level of achievement in all spheres of society.

5) DEATH AND KINGSHIP

a) Who was the last king to be killed?

- George V. When George V was dying, his physician, Lord Dawson, decided it would be more appropriate that his death be reported in the fashionable morning broadsheets than in the “less appropriate” evening journals, so he injected the King with two lethal doses of morphine at 11:00 p.m. to end his life. This was not known until 1986 when the doctor’s private diary, in which he revealed what he had done, was discovered. Neither Queen Mary nor the Prince of Wales knew about Dawson’s actions and he included in his diary that the King’s last words were, “God damn you.”

b) Which ancestor of Prince William and Prince Harry is buried in Canada?

- Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond. The Duke, himself a descendant of Charles II and the French King, Henri IV who sent Champlain to Canada, was appointed Governor in Chief of British North America in 1818. The following year he was bitten by a rabid fox and died in Richmond, Ontario while on a tour of Upper Canada. He was buried in the Anglican cathedral of Quebec City. Prince William and Prince Harry are 5th great-grandsons of Richmond, through their mother the late Diana, Princess of Wales

c) Which major artefact of Queen Victoria’s funeral is in Canada?

- One of the gun carriages used to carry the Queen’s casket is in the collection of the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum in Shilo, Manitoba. It was donated to the RCA by the Royal Artillery in 1962 with the permission of Queen Elizabeth II to mark the comradeship between British and Canadian Gunners in the two World Wars. Victoria’s casket was transported from the Isle of Wight, where she died, to Gosport by royal yacht and then by train to London. One gun carriage was used in Gosport between the yacht and the train, a second in London for the solemn two hour procession between Waterloo and Paddington railway stations. The third gun carriage was used to carry the Queen’s casket through the streets of Windsor from the train station, after it arrived from London, to St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for the funeral service. The three gun carriages used were an innovation for royal funerals that has continued to this day. Also, the horses broke the traces of the Windsor gun carriage so it had to be pulled instead by a contingent of Royal Navy sailors, at the command of Prince Louis of Battenburg (father of Lord Mountbatten), which has also become a royal tradition for funerals. The plaque that accompanied the gun carriage to Shilo is not explicit, but indicates that it was the one used in Gosport.

d) Which prominent Canadian died at Queen Victoria’s dining table?

- Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada died of a heart attack while dining at Windsor Castle on 12 December, 1894 at the age of 49. Sir John was at Windsor to be inducted into the Most Honourable Privy Council. Queen Victoria was not present at the table when he died but she arranged an elaborate lying in state for him and the painting by Frederic Bell-Smith of the Queen laying a wreath on his casket immortalised the event.

e) What change did Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral institute in British and Canadian flag protocol?

- The British public complained that the Union Jack was not flying at half-mast on the roof of Buckingham Palace, not realising that the Union Jack never flew at the Palace and therefore could not be lowered. The only flag that flew was the Sovereign’s Banner when the monarch was present. If the monarch was away no flag was on the flagpole. Because of the outcry, however, the Union Jack was flown at half-mast and the protocol was changed so that it is now flown on the pole when the King is not present. In Ottawa, only the Queen’s Banner for Canada (in future the Sovereign’s Banner for Canada) or the Governor General’s Banner flew from the roof of Rideau Hall and, when neither was present, no flag was on the pole, as at Buckingham Palace. Following the Palace’s lead, the Canadian National Flag was flown at half-mast on the pole for the Princess of Wales’s funeral and, also following the new practice at the Palace, the National Flag is now flown from the roof of Rideau Hall when no one is home.

6) ELECTIONS, PARLIAMENT AND THE CROWN

a) The heads of which monarchs are carved by the doors of the House of Commons in Ottawa?

- Henry VII and George II outside one door and Francois I and Louis XIV outside the other. It would seem that the intent was to represent the first and last co-existing British and French monarchs of Canada before George III became the sole monarch through the Treaty of Paris that ceded New France to Great Britain in 1763. If so, there was a mistake as the last French King was Louis XV not Louis XIV. On the other hand the sculptor, or his instructions, may have just decided that Louis XIV was a more important King for Canada and should be depicted, though Louis XV reigned over Canada for fifty-nine years.

b) What is the meaning of the name “House of Commons”?

- House of Communities. Commons is the traditional English word for communities. House of Commons does not mean House of the Common People as many assume. Members of Parliament are elected to represent their communities, not the people at large. In French the name of the Canadian House of Commons is Chambre des Communes, not Chambre des Peuples.

c) How is royal assent given?

- The representative of the King sits in the Speaker’s chair in the Senate or on a bench in the House of Lords, in both cases in front of the Throne and with a nod of the head assents to the various bills that are read out and thus turned into acts of Parliament. The last monarch to give royal assent in person was George VI in the Canadian Senate in 1939. No monarch has given assent in the U.K. Parliament since Victoria in 1854. Royal assent may also be signified by a written notification to the speakers of the two houses of Parliament. This was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1967 and in Canada in 2002.

d) What is the origin of the mace?

- The mace was originally a non-blade weapon used for bludgeoning. It gradually evolved into a symbol of authority and royal authority in particular. The large crowns on parliamentary maces, representing the King’s authority, were originally much smaller and on what was the base of the mace. What is now the smaller base was originally the larger “business” end of the weapon. The reversal came as the role of the mace evolved into a primarily ceremonial instrument, so the crown was emphasised.

e) What does “drop the writ” mean?

- It is when the King, the Governor General or a Lieutenant Governor has dissolved Parliament or a legislature and called an election. It may be a corruption of “draw up the writ”. The writ is sent to the official in charge of conducting an election in each of the ridings in Canada, who is ordered to read the writ in public. He is known as a “returning officer” because he is charged by the King in the writ to call for nominations and to conduct a poll, if necessary, to choose a new member of Parliament and then “to return” the writ with the name of the person chosen enscribed.

7) LITERATURE LOYAL

a) Who wrote the first story set in Canada?

- Marguerite, Queen Consort of Navarre, and sister of Francois I of France, the first French king to reign over Canada. It was one of the tales in her anthology, “Heptameron”, and is a narrative of a couple marooned on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Queen Marguerite was an outstanding figure of the French Renaissance, and has been described as “the first modern woman”. She is the 13th great-grandmother of Prince William and Prince Harry.

b) Which king wrote an attack on smoking?

- James I wrote “A Counterblaste to Tobacco” in 1604. In it he describes smoking as, “A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse.”

c) What is the title of the King’s children’s story?

- “The Old Man of Lochnagar”, published in 1980 in aid of the Prince’s Trust charity and based on stories which he had told his younger brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward when they were children. It is set in the area around Balmoral Castle.

d) Which Canadian political economist also wrote humorous stories of royal tours?

- Stephen Leacock, who was head of the political economy department at McGill University from 1908 to 1936, is best remembered today for his humorous writing. Royal tours are included in both “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town” (1912), his most famous book, and “My Discovery of England” (1922), in which he notes that the English “have seen so much of the mere outside of [the monarch’s] kingship that they don’t understand the heart of it as we do in Canada”.

e) Which writer first coined the term “True North” for Canada?

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson in “Idylls of the King”. In a postscript poem “To The Queen” in the 1873 edition he admonishes the Little Englanders who wanted to abandon Canadians to the American Republic and describes Canada as ‘That True North”, meaning true in its loyalty to Queen Victoria. Robert Stanley Weir borrowed the line when he wrote the English text to “O Canada”, which was originally a French Canadian song. True North means the loyal or faithful North, i.e. loyal to the King, not the real north, as some people today think it means.

8) LONDON, THE KING’S CITY

a) Where does the name Constitution Hill come from?

- It is the location where Charles II took his daily walks (his constitutionals). It has nothing to do with political constitutions.

b) What is the origin of Rotten Row?

- Rotten Row is a corruption of the French name Route de Roi (King’s Road) given to the bridle path running from Hyde Park to Serpentine Road, established by William III in the late 17th century.

c) How did the Royal Mews get its name?

- The Royal Mews was originally a house for the King’s falcons. Mewing or moulting was the annual loss of feathers by the falcons. It was converted to stables in 1537 but the old name stayed. Now mews is also used generally as a name for stables, garages or narrow roads where they were once located behind houses.

d) What is the difference between the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders?

- Both descend from a unit established by Henry VII, and today are recruited from retired soldiers, but they are now separate. Yeomen of the Guard protect the Sovereign, and are present at ceremonial occasions such as the State Opening of Parliament, while Yeomen Warders protect the Tower of London, where they are based. The confusion was not helped by the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “The Yeomen of the Guard”, which was actually about Yeomen Warders.

e) What is the official entrance to the Buckingham Palace grounds?

- The official entrance is Horse Guards Gate off Whitehall, which opens to Horse Guards Parade and then to The Mall and St James’s Park, although Admiralty Arch appears to be the main entrance. All of the land from Whitehall to Buckingham Palace is the grounds of the Palace. The Household Cavalry mount guard at the Gate because it is the entrance and they are senior to the five regiments of Foot Guards who mount the guard at St. James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace within the grounds.

9) REGALIA AND CANADA

a) How and why was the diamond maple leaf brooch acquired and which royals have worn it?

- George VI bought the brooch in England for his wife to wear in Canada during the 1939 royal tour. It has been worn by Queen Elizabeth, his Consort, later the Queen Mother, by Queen Elizabeth II, who also lent it for tours of Canada by Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Camilla when she was Duchess of Cornwall, and Katherine, Princess of Wales, when Duchess of Cambridge.

b) Which major artefacts from Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation are in Canada and where are they?

- The ten Queen’s Beasts, which were made for the Coronation and guarded the temporary Annexe to Westminster Abbey, were made of plaster and could not be displayed permanently outdoors. Replicas in stone were made after the Coronation and are now in Kew Gardens. The original beasts were then donated to Canada in 1959 and are in the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec in the National Capital Region.

c) What is the Sovereign’s Sword?

- The Sovereign’s Sword was created in 2010 by the Royal Canadian Naval Association for Queen Elizabeth II to mark the RCN’s 100th anniversary. The Queen then decided that it should be kept in Ottawa and carried by the RCN officer in charge of the Queen’s (now King’s) Colour when it is paraded. It is on display in the George Pearkes Building, the headquarters of the Department of National Defence.

d) What is the Last Spike Brooch?

- When Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, hammered the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Craigellachie, British Columbia, he bent it and a replacement had to be used. The bent spike was give to Smith as a souvenir. He had it turned into several brooches or scarf pins 6 cm in length and decorated with diamonds, for wives of CPR officials, one of which was presented to his cousin, George Stephen, later Lord Mount Stephen, who was President of the CPR. Four of the brooches are known to still exist. Lord Mount Stephen had no children so his was eventually left to his niece, Alice Reford. Her descendants presented it to the Queen in Right of Canada as one of the Crown Jewels of Canada in the Crown Collection. It has been worn by female Governors General and Consorts of male Governors General on ceremonial occasions.

e) What is unique about the Black Rod of the Province of New Brunswick?

- Black Rod is the name of the ushers in legislatures who act as messengers of the Sovereign and also of the rod of office that they carry. Currently there are Black Rods for the Senate of Canada and in five provinces – Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. The physical Black Rod of New Brunswick is the oldest in Canada, dating from 1834, and has the royal cypher of William IV, the first member of the Royal Family to come to Canada. It is carried by the Sergeant at Arms when he attends the Lieutenant Governor, the Governor General or the Queen and is thus acting as the Black Rod.

10) ROYALS IN CANADA

a) Who was the youngest royal to come to Canada, and when?

- Prince Archie of Sussex, son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex was six months old when he came to Canada with his parents in November, 2019 and stayed until March, 2020.

b) Who was the oldest royal to come to Canada, and when?

- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh came to Canada on a brief one day royal tour by himself on 27 April 2013 at the age of 91, to visit The Royal Canadian Regiment, of which he was Colonel in Chief, in Toronto.

c) Name at least five occupations that brought royals to Canada other than royal tours.

- Royals have come to Canada as sailor/soldier/aviator (e.g. Edward, Duke of Kent, Arthur, Duke of Connaught, George, Duke of Kent), to support charities (e.g. Edward, Earl of Wessex for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award), governors/government service (Arthur, Duke of Connaught as Governor General), student (Andrew, Duke of York at Lakefield College), and business (Edward, Prince of Wales and later as Duke of Windsor as a rancher).

d) Which children of Queen Victoria came to Canada?

- Five of Victoria’s nine children came to Canada. They were Albert Edward, Prince of Wales on a tour in 1860; Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh as a naval officer in 1861 and in the 1880s; Arthur, Duke of Connaught as a soldier in 1869-1870, on a visit in 1890, and as Governor General

1911-1916; Louise, Duchess of Argyll as Consort to the Governor General 1878-1883; Leopold, Duke of Albany on an informal tour in 1880.

e) What, where, when and why was a home acquired in Canada for King George VI?

- Hatley Castle, in Victoria, British Columbia, which was built by James Dunsmuir, was purchased by the Canadian Government in 1940 as a home for George VI and the Royal Family if they had to evacuate the United Kingdom in World War II. It was never needed for that purpose and was adapted as a naval training facility in the war. In 1968 it became Royal Royals Military College and, when that was closed, Royal Roads University in 1995.

11) ROYAL OTTAWA

a) Where did the wood for the top of the new Senate Thrones come from?

- New thrones for the interim Senate Chamber were installed in 2019, though the dates on the thrones are 2017 to mark the 100th anniversary of Confederation and the Senate. The King’s Throne has the cypher of Elizabeth II (monarch at the time) and the Consort’s Throne has the royal crest of the King’s Arms for Canada. The thrones will be used for a decade, until the Senate moves back to the Centre Block and the 1878 thrones are used again. At that point the new thrones will be moved to Rideau Hall. The wood for the tops of the thrones, on which the cypher and crest are displayed, came from a tree in Windsor Great Park personally chosen by Queen Elizabeth II.

b) Whose coat of arms is on the back of the historic Consort’s Throne?

- They are the arms of Princess Louise, daughter of Victoria and consort of the Marquis of Lorne, the Governor General of Canada. When the Lornes came to Canada in 1878 the Canadian Government decided that more impressive thrones were needed for the Senate Chamber and two were built. The King’s Throne features the arms of Victoria and the Consort’s Throne the arms of Princess Louise. The King’s Throne remained in Canada and was used until 2019, and is now in storage while the Centre Block is being restored. The Consort’s Throne was given to Princess Louise to keep when the Lornes returned to the United Kingdom in 1883 and remained there until 1937 when Princess Louise gave it back to Canada in anticipation of the 1939 royal tour so that there would be an appropriate throne for Queen Elizabeth, the Consort of George VI. It continued to be used by Prince Philip and consorts of Governors General until 2019 when it too was put in storage for a decade.

c) Who was the first royal to visit the grounds of Rideau Hall?

- Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) drove through the grounds in 1860, during his royal tour of Canada before Confederation. At the time Rideau Hall had not yet become the official royal / viceregal residence of the Province then, later, Dominion of Canada. It was acquired for that purpose four years later, in 1864.

d) What are the connections between the Ceremonial Guard and the Battle of Waterloo?

- The bearskin headdresses of the two Canadian Militia regiments (Governor General’s Foot Guards and Canadian Grenadier Guards) who constitute the Ceremonial Guard, the King’s household troops in Canada, adopted from the British guards regiments, and the name “Grenadier” of the Canadian Grenadier Guards, who are allied with the Grenadier Guards of Britain, were assumed by the British guards when they defeated the Grenadiers of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, who wore tall bearskin headdresses, in the final attack by Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, 18 June, 1815.

e) In 2019 the equestrian statue of Queen Elizabeth II was moved where?

- The statue was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 July, 1992 on Parliament Hill to the east of the Centre Block. Due to the closure of the Hill because of the decade long restoration of the Centre Block, it was move on 12 June, 2019 to the traffic circle on Sussex Drive in front of Rideau Hall.

12) ROYAL PLACE NAMES

a) Which Canadian Provinces have royal names?

- (3) Alberta (Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of Queen Victoria, herself named after her father, Prince Albert), New Brunswick (the Royal House of Brunswick or Hanover), Prince Edward Island (Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, son of George III and father of Victoria)

b) Which Australian States have royal names?

- (2) Queensland (Victoria), Victoria (Victoria)

c) Which American States have royal names?

- (8) Georgia (George II), Louisiana (Louis XIV of France), Maryland (Henrietta Maria, Consort of Charles I, known in England as Queen Mary), New York (James, Duke of York, later James II), North Carolina (Charles I, in Latin Charles is Carolus), South Carolina (same as North Carolina), Virginia (Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”), West Virginia (same as Virginia).

d) Which Canadian capital cities have, or had, royal names?

- (5) Charlottetown (Charlotte, Queen Consort of George III), Fredericton (Frederick, Duke of York, 2nd son of George III), Regina (Victoria, regina is Latin for queen), Toronto (originally named York after Frederick, Duke of York, 2nd son of George III), Victoria (Victoria)

e) What is the connection between the City of Guelph and the Royal Family?

- Guelph, in Ontario, is named after the Royal Family. It is the original Italian name of the House of Brunswick or Hanover. The Guelphs were supporters of the Pope in his wars with the Holy Roman Emperor. Through the female line they inherited the Duchy of Brunswick and moved to Germany. Through the female line again they inherited the United Kingdom and George I moved from Germany to England.

13) ROYAL ONTARIO

a) Who was the first royal to visit Southern Ontario?

- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (the father of Queen Victoria). Prince Edward lived in Canada for a decade, from 1791 to 1800. Based in Quebec City, in 1792 he travelled by boat up the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario to Newark (Niagara on the Lake) to visit Governor John Graves Simcoe and the new Parliament of Upper Canada.

b) Where did the statue of King Edward VII in Queen’s Park, Toronto come from?

- From India, where it had been dedicated by George V in 1911 as part of the Delhi Durbar. After India became a republic in 1950 the statue, along with many others, was put in storage. In 1969 Henry Jackman bought the statue and brought it to Toronto as a gift. During his 1860 tour of Canada as Prince of Wales, Edward VII had dedicated Queen’s Park, now the Toronto location of the Ontario Legislature, in honour of his mother, Queen Victoria.

c) What was the original name of the Princes’ Gates and why was it changed?

- Erected at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds in Toronto in 1927 to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of the Dominion of Canada, the gates were called The Diamond Jubilee of Confederation Gates. As they were opened by Edward, Prince of Wales and his younger brother Prince George, later Duke of Kent, the gates were first informally, then later formally, renamed the Princes’ Gates in their honour.

d) Why is there a crown in the centre of the Toronto Police Service badge?

The Toronto Police Service was previously the Metro Toronto Police, and its badge is still based on the seal of the former Metro Toronto. The Metropolitan Toronto Government was created by the Province of Ontario through the Metropolitan Toronto Act, 1953, so the corporation included St Edward’s Crown in the centre of the seal to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II that year.

e) Dundurn Castle is the ancestral home of which royal?

Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario was built by Sir Allan MacNab, Premier of the Province of Canada 1854 to 1856. Queen Camilla is a third great-granddaughter of Sir Allan.

14) SPORTS AND ROYALS

a) Which royal was a major NHL award named after?

- The Prince of Wales Trophy, established in 1925 is named in honour of Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII. Initially it was given for the winner of the first game at Madison Square Garden in New York and then to the champion of the National Hockey League when the NHL was only one of the leagues competing for the Stanley Cup. It is now given to the champion of the Eastern Conference in the NHL.

b) What is the second jewel in the Triple Crown of Canadian thoroughbred horse racing?

- The Prince of Wales Stakes held at Fort Erie Racetrack in the Niagara Region, Ontario. It was named in honour of Edward, Prince of Wales in 1929 and held at the former Thorncliffe Park Raceway in Toronto. It was subsequently held at Old Woodbine (Greenwood) Racetrack and Woodbine Racetrack before it was moved to Fort Erie Racetrack in 1959 when it was designated the second jewel in the Triple Crown. The first jewel is the King’s Plate and the third is the Breeders’ Stakes, both run at Woodbine Racetrack.

c) When and where was the first royal hockey game played?

- It was played in 1895 on the frozen small lake on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. The game was arranged by five sons of Lord Stanley, who had been Governor General of Canada and donated the Stanley Cup. The Stanley brothers and Lord Annally made up one team. The other team represented the Palace and included the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) and the Duke of York (George V).

d) Where was the Connaught Park racetrack (named after Queen Victoria’s son)?

- It was located in Aylmer (now part of Gatineau), Quebec, across the Ottawa River from the City of Ottawa. It operated from 1913 to 1995 and featured thoroughbred, steeplechase and standardbred horse racing over its existence. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught was the Governor General of Canada when it was established and was the first honorary president of the Connaught Park Jockey Club.

e) Did Queen Elizabeth II attend a Canadian Football League game and, if so, when?

- Yes, during the Queen and Prince Philip’s Silver Jubilee Tour in Ottawa, 1977, the royal couple attended a CFL game at Lansdowne Park between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on 15 October.

15) THEATRE ROYAL

a) What did Kaiser Wilhelm II say when the House of Windsor was created in 1917?

- Due to anti-German feeling in World War I, in 1917 George V changed the name of the Royal Family from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (his grandfather, Prince Albert’s family) to Windsor. His cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II, though a Hohenzollern on his father’s side was also a Saxe-Coburg-Gotha through his mother and the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria. When told of George V’s decision, the Kaiser remarked that he would go to the theatre in Berlin that evening to see the play by William Shakespeare “The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha”. (Of course, the play was “The Merry Wives of Windsor”).

b) Why did Shakespeare write Macbeth?

James VI, the Stuart King of Scotland inherited the Crown of England as James I, when his cousin the Tudor Elizabeth I died. He asked Shakespeare to write a play about Scotland for a

visit by his father in law, the King of Denmark. Shakespeare wrote “Macbeth”. In the play the witches prophesy that the hero Banquo would beget kings. James’s family, the House of Stuart, were the descendants of Banquo.

c) Which British and Canadian theatrical shows present pageants of royal history?

“The Hollow Crown” devised by John Barton in 1961 as a training tool for the Royal Shakespeare Company, of which he was the co-founder, and “The Maple Crown: A Theatrical History of Canada” inspired by the former production and devised by Garry Toffoli in 1984.

d) Which musical includes the song “I’m A Monarchist”?

- The rock opera “Blondel” by Tim Rice and Stephen Oliver, which debuted in 1983. It is an interpretation of the legend of Blondel who sought King Richard I (the Lionheart), imprisoned by the Duke of Austria when returning from the Crusades in the Holy Land. In the musical Blondel is a centuries early rock musician with a backup group of women singers called The Blondettes. The song includes such lines as “Those not ruled by kings don’t know what they’ve missed”, “Talk of presidents gives offence, only kings will do” and “For it is their [kings] role to be told they’re great, and prevent some ass with no class being head of state”.

e) Name at least two theatres in Toronto with royal monikers.

Royal Alexandra Theatre, named in honour of Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward VII in 1907 by letters patent from the king, Queen Elizabeth Theatre at Exhibition Place, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, 1956, or the Princess of Wales Theatre named in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1993 with her consent.

16) TRUE OR FALSE

a) The monarch has to be an Anglican.

- False in theory, probably true in current practice. The Act of Settlement only requires that the monarch be “in communion with the Church of England as by law established”. In theory, therefore, a monarch can belong to any church that is in communion with the Church of England. Adherence to the Catholic Church is the only status expressly forbidden. At present the Church of England is in communion (the Porvoo Communion) with several Lutheran churches in Europe in addition to the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Canada, which is in communion with the Church of England, is also in communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Canada and in the United States. A Lutheran monarch belonging to one of these denomination might be able to make the claim that they are in communion with the Church of England as defined in the Act of Settlement.

b) Queen Elizabeth II was a citizen while a monarch.

- False until 1 February, 1993, then true until 31 January, 2020, then false again, The Queen was the sovereign of her several realms but was not a citizen of any, as citizens are the subjects of the Monarch. Elizabeth II in her personal status, however, was a citizen of the European Union under EU law, from adoption by Union members of the Masstricht Treaty in 1993, which established EU citizenship, until the United Kingdom left the Union in 2020.

c) Princess Charlotte of Wales is descended from George Washington.

- False. Though George Washington, the first American president, was an ancestral 2nd cousin through the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

d) Royal baptisms have a direct connection to the Holy Land.

- True. The holy water used for all royal baptisms is always brought from the River Jordan.

e) With the 2013 changes to the Royal Marriages Act, a royal can be married in a Catholic church.

- Probably false. The changes allow a royal to marry a Catholic without being excluded from the succession to the Throne, but the anti-Catholic sections in the Act of Settlement were not changed. They provide that any member of the Royal Family who undertakes an act of reconciliation, communion or adherence to the Catholic Church is deemed to be dead for purposes of the succession. A Catholic marriage is a sacrament, so it would be included in that list. Therefore, it is likely that a royal can now marry a Catholic but only in a non-Catholic marriage.

f) Eight generations of the Royal Family have lived in Canada.

- False. There have been nine generations. The first members of the Royal Family to live in Canada were two sons of George III – William IV in 1786 and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent from 1791 to 1800. Since then at least one member of each generation of the Royal Family has lived in Canada, not counting royal tours. Prince Archie of Sussex (who lived in Canada from November, 2019 to March, 2020 with his father, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex) is the ninth generation.

g) Rideau Hall is a palace.

- True. A palace is just a royal residence of any size or level of grandeur and Rideau Hall in Ottawa is one of the two official residences in Canada of the King. The other is the Citadelle in Quebec City. The word palace comes from the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome, which was the site of the residence of Roman emperors.

h) Canada has ties to the Monarchy.

- False. Canada is a Monarchy, it does not have ties to a Monarchy. A monarchy is a society, not an institution (which is a crown) or individuals (a royal family). In the same way, for example, the United States of America is a Republic, it does not have ties to a Republic.

i) The Governor General is Commander in Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.

- False in constitutional law. Though the expression is often used, even by the military, under the Letters Patent of 1947 the Governor General is Commander in Chief “in and over Canada”, a geographical appointment, not of the Armed Forces themselves. The Command in Chief of the Forces is declared to be vested in the King by the Constitution Act, 1867. The office of Commander in Chief was created in 1905 to replace the office of General Officer Commanding in Canada, then held by a serving British officer, which was abolished, not as a transference of the King’s command in chief authority declared in the Constitution, as some people mistakenly think.

j) Queen Elizabeth II was the second longest reigning monarch over Canada.

- True. Although the longest reigning monarch in Canada’s British royal line at 70 years and 7 months, Louis XIV of France reigned over Canada for more than 72 years (1643-1715).

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PROCLAMATION OF ACCESSION OF KING CHARLES III

Rideau Hall, 10 September 2022

TO ALL TO WHOM these presents shall come or whom the same may in any way concern,

GREETING:

Whereas our late Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth the Second, passed away on September 8, 2022, by whose death the Crown of Canada vests in His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George;

We, the Right Honourable Mary May Simon, Governor General of Canada, assisted by His Majesty’s Privy Council for Canada, proclaim that His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, by the death of our late Sovereign, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to whom we acknowledge faith and allegiance.

Given under my Hand and Seal of Office at Ottawa, this tenth day of September, two thousand and twenty-two.

Long Live the King

À TOUS CEUX à qui les présentes parviennent ou qu’elles peuvent de quelque manière concerner,

SALUT :

Attendu que notre regrettée Souveraine, la reine Elizabeth Deux est décédée le 8 septembre 2022 et que, par son décès, la Couronne du Canada est dévolue à Son Altesse Royale le prince Charles Philip Arthur George,

Nous, la très honorable Mary May Simon, gouverneure générale du Canada, d’accord avec le Conseil privé de Sa Majesté pour le Canada, proclamons que Son Altesse Royale le prince Charles Philip Arthur George est maintenant devenu, par le décès de notre regrettée Souveraine, Charles Trois, par la Grâce de Dieu, Roi du Royaume-Uni, du Canada et de ses autres royaumes et territoires, Chef du Commonwealth, Défenseur de la Foi, à qui nous reconnaissons toute foi et allégeance.

Donné sous mon seing et mon sceau officiel, ce dixième jour de septembre de l’an deux mille vingt-deux.
Vive le roi

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The Canadian Royal Crown

(from The Department of Canadian Heritage)

The Canadian Royal Crown features a familiar design resembling the English Royal Crown in the Tudor style, while incorporating distinctly Canadian elements.

The Crown’s rim bears stylized maple leaves, the quintessential symbol of Canada, as well as rising and falling peaks representing Canada’s varied landscape with its many mountain ranges and river valleys. The wavy blue line represents the country’s lakes and rivers, as well as the 3 oceans that encompass its borders. This also alludes to the Indigenous teachings reminding us that water is the lifeblood of the land and emphasizes the importance of the environment to all Canadians. The red cap and its trim in white ermine fur also provide a nod to the colours of the National Flag of Canada. Finally, the Crown is topped with a stylized snowflake, representing snowy winters. This snowflake resembles the insignia of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honours.

The Canadian Royal Crown is an important symbol of the Sovereign’s authority, as well as the state’s power and the principle of the Canadian monarchy. Its design was created by the Canadian Heraldic Authority and approved by His Majesty King Charles III in April 2023.

Canada had previously used artistic representations of the Royal Crown that followed the personal preference of the Sovereign, notably the heraldic rendition of St. Edward’s Crown used during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Canadian Royal Crown was designed so that Canada would have its own distinctive Royal Crown that would represent the country and the particular identity of the Crown in Canada. Similarly, Scotland also has its own Royal Crown that is used in some Royal emblems. Outside of the United Kingdom though, Canada was the first Commonwealth Realm to create a distinctive Royal Crown.

Introduced in 2023 at the start of the reign of King Charles III, the Canadian Royal Crown is intended to be a perennial emblem that will be used during the reigns of all future kings and queens of Canada, without needing to change Canadian emblems.

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Sovereign’s Flag for Canada

(from The Canadian Heraldic Authority)

The Sovereign’s Flag for Canada indicates the presence of The King when he is in Canada. It can be flown from buildings he is visiting and on modes of transportation (e.g., a ship, airplane or car) he is using while in Canada. It takes precedence over all other flags.

Unlike the National Flag of Canada, which may be flown by any member of the public, the Sovereign’s Flag for Canada is intended for official purposes, and is only to be used to indicate the presence of the monarch.

The flag is a banner of the Royal Arms of Canada, which means it is a rectangular version of the shield of the coat of arms of Canada. The Arms of Canada were proclaimed in 1921. They are a symbol of sovereignty and represent the monarch and the monarch’s Canadian government. The flag contains a sprig of three red maple leaves representing Canada and Canadians, as well as the Royal emblems of England, Scotland, Ireland and France.

The King gave his approval to the flag design shortly before his coronation, in May 2023. The design was prepared by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.

This new design brings the Sovereign’s Flag for Canada in line with the Royal Standards of England and of Scotland, which are rectangular versions of the two countries’ Royal arms, used to indicate the presence of The King. The Sovereign’s Flag for Canada is a permanent emblem that will be the same for all future kings and queens of Canada.

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10 September, 2022

Dear Canadian Royal Heritage Trust Supporter:

The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust received the news of the death of the Sovereign with profound sorrow.

Her Majesty’s last hours were characteristic and of a pattern with her whole life. The day before her demise the Queen sent a message of condolence to the stricken people of Saskatchewan who were still in a state of shock from the horrendous murders that took place in their province. The last picture of the Queen will remain in the minds of all. It was of a bent, frail figure leaning on her walking stick for support but cheerfully smiling as she greeted Elizabeth Truss who had come to be appointed the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This unflagging and lifelong service was what the Sovereign promised at the age of twenty-one in 1947. All her subjects and those more remotely connected will hold her pledge fulfilled. She was one of few people in public life today who have done so said one commentator.

The vast majority of Canadians have known no other Monarch than Queen Elizabeth II. To their surprise some are now suddenly aware of how much she figured in their lives. During the Queen’s long reign she raised Monarchy in Canada to a new level of visibility and participation, often under difficult and changing conditions. An increasingly noticeable vacuum has been evident in Canada since it was announced in 2010 that Her Majesty would not be coming again. It will be a challenge to her successors to emulate her generous sharing of her person.

In Ottawa at the time Her Majesty died a citizenship ceremony was taking place. The Citizenship Oath about to be administered to the prospective new Canadians was quickly altered from an oath to Queen Elizabeth II to one to King Charles III. The Queen is dead, long live the King.

The new King will be inspired by his mother’s achievement and will promise at his Coronation to reign in service over us, continuing the outstanding work she and all her forerunners on the Throne accomplished. We of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust make our pledge in return ever to support his mission through loyalty to our Sovereign.

Over the period of mourning, Trust supporters will have the chance of attending official and private memorial services for the Queen or in other ways expressing their sentiments in person or virtually, and should take full advantage of the opportunity.

God save King Charles III.

Yours in loyalty,

Arthur Bousfield, Chairman

Trustees: Hon. Alan Redway, PC, QC, (Hon. Chairman); Arthur Bousfield (Chairman), Dr Paul Benoit (Vice-Chairman), Garry Toffoli (Vice-Chairman & Executive Director), Kirk Howard, CM, (Past-Chairman), Barbara Rusch (Recording Secretary.), Prof. John McLeod (Corresponding Secretary), Cyril Bagin (Ont.), Ted Chudleigh (Ont.), Charles Coulombe (U.S.), Keith Currie (Ont.), Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (U.K.), Jack Heath (Ont.), Elizabeth Honoridez-Leggett (Ont.); Stuart Iversen (Que.), Stu Kellock (Ont.), Stephen Klimczuk-Massion (B.C.), Christopher LePage (P.E.I.), Marc Lascelle (Que.), Chief Donald Maracle (Ont.), Prof. Jacques Monet (Ont.), Brian Romagnoli (Ont.), Dr Alexander Roman (Ont.), Downes Ryan (Que.), Michael Smith (Ont.), Jane Ann Thompson-McCaw (Ont.), Dr Richard Toporoski (B.C.), Thomas Wardle (Ont. & Bah.), Rod Wylie (Alta)

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Canadian Royal Heritage Award

Prix du patrimoine royal du Canada

The Canadian Royal Heritage Award / Prix du patrimoine royal du Canada recognizes outstanding contributions to preserving, presenting, enhancing or adding to the royal heritage of Canada by public bodies, associations and individuals.

The Award was established by the Trust in 2003 to mark its tenth anniversary and is given annually but not limited to one per year. Nominations for the Award come from institutions and individuals in the royal and heritage field and from the general public. The nomination form is attached.

Award Recipients 2004 - present (by year)

2004

David Bentley

Professor Alvin Boyd;

Carla Conway;

Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto

Elizabeth Horlock

Michael Jackson, CVO

l’honorable Serge Joyal

The Monarchist League of Canada

Mr and Mrs P.A. Woodward Foundation, Vancouver

Laurence Patten; Pictou County Branch, The Monarchist League of Canada

Toronto Branch, The Monarchist League of Canada

Louis Temporale, Jr

Captain Max Podluzny

2005

Jane-Anne Thompson-McCaw

Susan Velder

2006

John Paul Denter, UE

John Ballergal Wilkes

2007

Corporation of the City of London, Canada

2008

Margaret Lillian Kennett

2009

Christopher Paul McCreery, MVO

Toronto Branch, Royal Heraldry Society of Canada

2010

Hello! Canada Magazine

2011

The Honourable Jason Kenney

2012

City of Markham, Ontario

“Honour Our 1812 Heroes” Committee

Robert Scott

2013

James Shawn Carnes

James Andrew Coyne

Professor Jack Lohman, CBE and The Royal British Columbia Museum

Rev’d Canon Stanley Sinclair

Nathan Tidridge

2014

2015

J. William Galbraith

The Honourable Peter Gordon Mackay

2016

Robert Maxwell Morrow

Charles Pachter

2017

2018

Jane Beecroft

Richard James Fiennes-Clinton

Lieutenant-Colonel Carl Gauthier, MMM, CD

2019

Councillor Paul Ainslie

Helen Keron Beimler

Peter Anthony Mahon

Peter Howard Russell, OC, FRSC

Award Recipients and Achievements 2004 - present (alphabetically)

Ainslie, Councillor Paul, - 2019

Played a leading role in the restoration and enhancement of Toronto’s Coronation Park,

including the Cenotaph and the Royal Oak and Empire Circle, begun in 2018 and

completed in 2019.

Beecroft, Jane, - 2018

This doughty warrior for preservation of local history was the first in the heritage

community to provide the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust with a regular display facility

when it was established. Almost singlehandedly she saved the old Toll Keeper’s cottage

in Toronto.

Beimler, Helen Keron, - 2019

An exemplary volunteer with the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust since it was fo/unded in

1994, she set up for meetings, staffed exhibits and shows and made fundraising pies.

Bentley, David, - 2004

Established a library of books on royalty and monarchy in the Scout-Guide Museum

that he created in Belleville, Ontario – the largest of its kind in Canada.

Boyd, Professor Alvin, - 2004

Convinced the Mayor and Corporation of the City of London, Ontario to name the

space in front of the new John Labatt Centre arena / entertainment complex as Golden

Jubilee Square in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Carnes, James Shawn, - 2013

This American citizen, police constable and resident of Joliet, Illinois early developed an

interest in Canada’s Monarchy which, though the country’s matrix, he found was

under appreciated. To support it he wrote a stream of letters over decades to Canadian

officials urging greater use and visibility of the Crown.

City of Markham, Ontario, 2012

Given to recognize the achievements of the city’s Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee

Committee set up to celebrate the Queen of Canada’s sixty years on the Throne.

Conway, Carla - 2004

Developed and carried out a programme to distribute new official portraits of Her

Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to all schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, arranging

speakers to present them and talk about Canada’s monarchy.

Corporation of the City of London, Ontario, - 2007

For its implementation of many recommendations of the 1999 Restoration Master Plan

for the development and beautification of Victoria Park. The fifteen acre park in the city

centre was originally the location of the Infantry Barracks, was given to the city by

the Crown and named in honour of Queen Victoria. It is the vibrant heart of London

with an estimated million and a half users each year.

Coyne, James Andrew, - 2013

This prominent journalist has over decades given intellectual support for the Canadian

Monarchy in the national media based on a real understanding of the Crown’s nature

and historic role and without shying away from features that are assumed to be

weaknesses but showing them in fact to be strengths.

Denter, John Paul, U.E., - 2006

For at least three decades, he has worked tirelessly, giving of his time, talent and

substance in making the legacy of the Crown known within the heritage community,

seeing that it is recognized and appreciated by the public school system and directly

assisting The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust as a benefactor and volunteer.

Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto, - 2004

Restored the coats-of-arms of King George V, Queen Mary and other members of the

Royal Family on the wall of the anteroom of the Imperial Rom as they were when the

hotel opened in 1929.

Fiennes-Clinton, Richard James, - 2018

For a lifetime dedication to local heritage that led him to establish Muddy York

Walking Tours in 1997 to communicate his knowledge and enthusiasm to the wider

public. Researching, lecturing and writing on Toronto’s history he has shown a

particular awareness of its diverse royal character.

Galbraith, J. William, - 2015

For his biography, the first to treat its subject from a Canadian standpoint, John Buchan,

Model Governor General, the research and writing of which spanned decades.

Gauthier, Lieutenant-Colonel Carl, MMM, CD, - 2018

For the expertise, quality and care he has shown in creating official medals such as the

Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, in developing concepts and designs of other honours and

particularly in ensuring the high standard of the Queen’s portrait and depiction of the

Royal Crown on them since he joined the directorate of Honours and Recognition in

2002.

Hello! Canada Magazine, - 2010

Since it first published in 2005, Hello! Canada has brought to Canadians news of their

Royal Family – news no longer provided by mainstream media – thereby making an

important contribution to the country’s living royal heritage.

“Honour Our 1812 Heroes” Committee, - 2012

By perseverance, meticulous research and persuasive argument, the committee realized

its vision of the inherent continuity of the soldiers of King George III to Queen Elizabeth

II being recognized by the Crown and modern Canadian regiments permitted to t

perpetuate War of 1812 battle honours.

Horlock, Elizabeth, - 2004.

For making the Monarchy a regular part of her English lessons for new Canadians.

Jackson, Howard Kent, - 2010

Jackson, Michael, CVO, - 2004

For writings on the Crown, work in developing the Saskatchewan Order of

Merit and his role in the augmentation of the arms of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

in right of the Province of Saskatchewan.;

Joyal, l’honorable Serge, - 2004

For making of the Francophonie Room of the Senate of Canada a glorious celebration of

the country’s French Sovereigns. Senator Joyal’s munificent donation of portraits of

Canada’s French and British Monarchs enriched not only the Senate in Ottawa but The

Citadel in Quebec City as well.

Kennett, Margaret Lillian – 2008

Established a Quinte branch of the Friends of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust in 2004,

leading it for three years during which she put on displays to mark royal events and

educate the public, created a float to celebrate the Queen’s 80t birthday for the Belleville

waterfront parade and established good relations with the media.

Kenny, The Honourable Jason, - 2011

From his appointment as Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism in

2008, he worked to enhance the place of the Sovereign, Royal Family and other national

institutions in Canada’s civic liturgy.

Legislative Assembly of Alberta, - 2010

Installed the cypher of Queen Elizabeth II surmounting the Canadian Golden Jubilee

Device in glass over the central front door of the Legislature in Edmonton and also

installed in glass over the two exterior doors and two intertior ones on each side of the

central doors the royal cyphers of King Edward VII, King George V, King Edward VIII

and King George VI. The installations marked Alberta’s Centenary as a province in

2005 and the visit of Her Majesty The Queen for that celebration.

Lohman, Professor Jack, CBE and The Royal British Columbia Museum, - 2013

The Royal British Columbia Museum has preserved the natural and human history of the

province for a century ad a quarter and has never neglected to tell its royal story.

Its Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton : A Diamond Jubilee Celebration was a good

example of the latter and the work of Professor Lohman.

Mackay, The Honourable Peter Gordon, - 2015

As Minister of National Defence he strengthened the Armed Forces’ ability to protect

Canada’s identity around the world by restoring their royal names, identity and heritage,

thus reconnecting form and substance and enhancing esprit de corps for Canada’s sailors,

soldiers and aviators.

Mahon, Peter Anthony,- 2019

As Artistic Director of the Tallis Choir which specializes in music of the Renaissance he

has ensured that important court and royal composers of that and other eras have

continued to be a part of Canada’s current musical experience.

McCreery, Christopher Paul, - 2009

For contribution to scholarship on the Monarchy by his 2005 book The Canadian

Honours System.

The Monarchist League of Canada / La ligue monarchist du Canada, - 2004

For its successful student intern programme under which many young Canadians have been able to work

in the office of the Queen’s provincial representatives and thereby be educated in the daily working of the

Crown.

Morrow, Robert Maxwell, - 2016

His record as a friend of royal heritage when the longest serving Mayor of Gamilton

and as a Councillor was outstanding . Visits to the city by senior members of the Royal

Family and by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, restoration of Louis Hebert’s statue of

statue of Queen Victoria in The Gore carried out and King George School saved from

demolition thanks to him.

Pachter, Charles, - 2016

In his 1972 Queen on a Moose, this artist had the brilliance to create an iconic image that

with gentle and affectionate irony expressed the perfect convergence of Monarch and

country. He went on to develop a whole series in the same vein.

Patten, Laurence, - 2004

Painted the coats-of-arms at Government House, Victoria of Sovereigns and members of

the Royal Family who had stayed at or visited the residence during its long history.

Pictou County Branch of The Monarchist League of Canda and the chairman Peter Underwood, - 2004

For planting trees in Acadia Park in Westville, Nova Scotia along with a plaque to mark

the hundredth birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2000.

Podluzny, Captain Max, - 2004

Initiated the refurbishment of the Cenotaph in the City of Edmonton.

Royal British Columbia Museum, - 2013 [see Lohman, Professor Jack, CBE]

Russell, Peter Howard, OC, FRSC, - 2019

To recognize a lifelong record through teaching, writing and public service of advocating

constitutional monarchy as one of the foundational principles of Canada.

Sinclair, Rev’d Canon Stanley R., - 2013

A descendant of two signers of the American Declaration of Independence, he moved

north, took his oath to the Queen of Canada, became a Canadian Citizen and worked

to fulfil the spirit as well as the letter of his pledge of fidelity by leading a branch of The

Monarchist League of Canada and working to educate the public and cause his chosen

country’s royal heritage to be better known and valued.

Scott, Robert D., - 2012

For outstanding volunteer service to the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, in particular to

its community outreach programme, in the museum field and in engaging young

Canadians to learn about their royal identity through the education system.

Temporale,Jr, Louis, - 2004

Restored the statue of His Majesty King George VI at Niagara Falls for the Niagara

Parks Commssion. Mr Temporale’s father Louis Temporale (1909-1994) carved the

original statue in 1963.

Thompson-McCaw, Jane Anne, 2005

As a veteran journalist and noted community activist, devoted a great deal of time and

effort making the Quinte region of Ontario aware of Canada’s motif of monarchy,

work that included chairing the Belleville Branch of The Monarchist League of Canada

and helping establish the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust locally.

Tidridge, Nathan, - 2013

As a volunteer has for a decade provided service to the Crown; as a skilful and

dedicated young teacher has presented the heritage of monarchy to young Canadians and

sought reform of the school curriculum to better reflect Canada’s royal identity; and now

as an author has produced two important books on the Crown.

Toronto Branch, The Monarchist League of Canada, - 2004;

It both added to the country’s royal heritage and enhanced an existing royal site by

creating the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Rose Garden, with plaque bearing the

profile of the Sovereign, on the grounds of t he Ontario Legislature. The Golden Jubilee

Rose Garden was inaugurated by HRH The Duke of York.

Toronto Branch, Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, - 2009

Raising awareness that the 126 shields of arms in the Great Hall of Hart House at the

University of Toronto, designed and painted by Alexander Scot Carter with the Royal

Arms of King George V as their centerpiece, seriously needed restoration and initiating

fundraising to allow it to be begun.

Velder, Susan, - 2005

For designing a larger than life equestrian statue of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on

her Canadian horse Burmese for the capital city of Regina as part of Saskatchewan’s

celebration of the Monarch’s Golden Jubilee

Wilkes, John Ballergal, - 2006

For his work in obtaining the designation Royal for the Royal Heraldry Society of

Canada from the Sovereign and his service as Trustee of the Canadian Royal Heritage

Trust.

Mr and Mrs P.A. Woodward Foundation, Vancouver, - 2004

For the original donation and the recent restoration of the statue of His Majesty

King George VI at the Woodward Biomedical Centre on the campus of the University

of British Columbia.

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