King Charles, Queen Camilla ride on horse-drawn carriage through Ottawa to Senate ahead of throne speech

What to await when billie jean king charles ix delivers the throne spoken language

King Charles meets with Prime Minister Carney ahead of throne speech tomorrow

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in Canada ahead of throne speech

What should Canadians expect to hear in Tuesday's speech from the throne? | Power & Politics

Coronation Girls share 70-year history with the Royal Family

This special throne speech has brought out some of the most notable faces in Canadian politics to the Senate, from former governor generals, prime ministers and premiers.

Former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau and former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper are no fans of each other’s politics, but given that they are the last two occupants of that office they are seated side-by-side.

Oh, to be able to hear the conversation.

Some royal pomp is parading down Wellington Street.

Charles and Camilla are making a short trip to the Senate building in Canada’s state landau, escorted by 24 horses from the RCMP’s musical ride.

The landau has an Australian origin — it was built Down Under for Lord Hopetoun, the governor general there in the 1890s.

A few years later, the landau found its way to Canada.

At the end of his term as Canada’s ninth Governor General, Earl Grey bought the landau from Hopetoun and donated it to this country.

It will be a familiar ride for Charles and Camilla — they last used it when they were here in 2017.

Coronation Girls share 70-year history with the Royal Family

The Coronation Girls got to see King Charles a second time.

“Not only did we have tea with the King in Buckingham Palace in December of 2023, but it was pretty unbelievable that his coming to Ottawa meant that a few of us could meet him again,” Carol Shipley told me.

The Coronation Girls are the focus of a documentary feature film that premiered late last year and followed a dozen Canadian women when they were in England late in 2023. They retraced the steps of a formative trip they made to the United Kingdom as teenagers at the time of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953

Three of the Coronation Girls were at Rideau Hall yesterday watching Charles and Camilla plant the blue beech tree.

“It was so fitting for King Charles to plant a tree. He was concerned about the environment long before most of us were thinking of it,” Shipley, of Ottawa, said.

“At the palace, he and Yvonne Harris, a Coronation Girl from the Yukon and more recently, Port Coquitlam, B.C., shared their passion and commitment to save the planet.”

Shipley recalled Yvonne telling Charles: “Trees are the lungs of our planet.”

Yvonne died two months ago, Shipley said.

“We are especially grateful to His Majesty for coming to Canada at this important moment in our country's history to support us in our resolve to protect our sovereign nation from threat.”

I'm a senior reporter in the Parliamentary Bureau. The opening of Parliament is an exciting day for individual MPs and ministers too, including some very eager and enthusiastic rookies.

Even if you are an officially elected representative, this is still an exciting ceremonial day to experience live and in person.

Good morning from the Senate of Canada building. I’m J.P. Tasker, a reporter following the royal tour.

There is a large crowd assembled along Ottawa’s Wellington Street awaiting the royal landau, which will ferry Charles and Camilla through the heart of the parliamentary precinct to the Senate — the royal chamber of Parliament.

The landau was last used by Their Majesties (then Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall) during their 2017 royal tour.

The 100-member honour guard from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment has just arrived. They will deliver the royal salute to the King and Queen when they arrive here for the throne speech. Charles will review the troops before heading inside.

The weather is quite warm, and we are under the direct sunlight. They asked reporters in the “media pen” to move back from the honour guard in case one of them, outfitted as they are in the heavy red wool tunic and armed with a sharp bayonet, passes out onto us given the heat.

When Charles sits down to deliver the speech from the throne, he will do so from a new seat.

A new throne was created for the Senate’s temporary home — the former Union train station. (That move was made necessary by the extensive renovations that have closed Centre Block on Parliament Hill.)

Charles will be the first monarch to use the throne designed by former Dominion sculptor Phil White, according to the Senate’s website.

The chair prominently displays the cypher of Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, who was the monarch when the throne was carved.

And there’s a bit of wood within its design that could have its own poignancy for Charles — a piece of English walnut from Windsor Great Park, just outside London, and a preserve of his.

The ceremony surrounding the throne speech today won’t just be recorded through photos and video.

Four sketch artists will also capture different elements, from Charles’s arrival and the Senate leadership to the procession into the chamber and the speech itself.

The King is himself an amateur watercolourist who travels with artists on his tours. An exhibition of some of their artwork is going on display at Buckingham Palace this summer.

“King Charles III is quite passionate about the arts and has said that if he weren't King, he'd want to spend his time studying the Royal Collection of Art,” Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris told me.

“He's a very passionate amateur artist and art enthusiast. And so … part of the tour is documenting this historic moment through art as well as through the extensive press coverage.”

Hi. I’m Janet Davison, a senior writer and editor based out of Toronto. I also look after our newsletter that explores royal issues and analysis, The Royal Fascinator.

I’m back with you again today as Charles carries out the prime task of this extremely focused and very short visit to Canada: reading the speech from the throne.

The speech this morning marks the second time in less than two months that Charles is making history while talking to parliamentarians.

In this case, that history includes only the third time the monarch has read the speech in Canada, and the first time it’s been by a King. Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, read the speech twice: once in 1957 and again in 1977, when she was here marking her Silver Jubilee and 25 years on the throne.

And in April, Charles became the first British monarch to address both houses of the Italian parliament. That speech, however, had a hint of Canada in it, as Charles made a point of noting his role as our head of state.

"Tomorrow in Ravenna, as King of the United Kingdom and of Canada, I will have the great honour of commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of that province ... In which British and Canadian forces played a key role," he said.

Such attention to Canada from the King stood out, coming as it did after those who watch him closely were seeing an increase in signals and royal symbolism in support of the country as it faced repeated taunts from Trump about becoming the 51st U.S. State.

Such rhetoric from Trump has faded of late, but a monarch making such a reference in an international, non-Commonwealth setting to his role as King of Canada is rare and has few if any parallels in recent royal times.

The pageantry will begin in about half an hour, when the King and Queen will travel through the Parliamentary precinct in Canada's state landau — the ceremonial horse-drawn carriage used for royal transport in Ottawa. They'll wave at the crowds which are already lining up here in downtown Ottawa on what’s turning into a beautiful sunny day.

As the landau travels down Wellington Street, the King and Queen will be accompanied by 28 horses of the RCMP Musical Ride, with 14 in front and the rest following behind. (The King was made the commissioner-in-chief of the Mounties in 2023.)

At the Senate, the King will receive full military honours, including a 100-person guard of honour from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, an inspection of the guard and the band, followed by a 21-gun salute. That’s scheduled for around 10:15 a.m. ET.

The actual speech from the throne will be delivered at 11 a.m., officially opening the 45th Parliament of Canada.

The King’s final event on his whirlwind trip will be wreath laying at the National War Memorial scheduled just before noon.

Then they’re heading back to Grand Old England.

Welcome to Day 2 of Charles and Camilla's royal visit to Canada, marking Charles's first as monarch.

It's a whirlwind visit, lasting barely two days, but the royals have already packed a punch. Yesterday, they visited Lansdowne Park and Rideau Hall and were warmly greeted by crowds of hundreds. The pair were seen shaking hands and interacting with scores of people throughout the day.

Today is the main event, though — with Charles delivering the speech from the throne to open Canada's 45th Parliamentary session — and will feature more royal pomp.

Our political reporters will be watching for whether the King directs any comments to U.S. President Donald Trump in the speech. Trump's threats to Canadian sovereignty are said to have inspired Carney's invitation to the royals.

Follow along as we bring you live updates.

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