“We’re thrilled that the King will be here,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “If there’s a message in there, you know, there’s easier ways to send me messages. Just give me a call.”

The king’s big diplomatic headache

Trump’s threats to annex the largest of Charles’ realms have posed an extraordinary diplomatic headache for the 76-year-old monarch, who is supposed to be apolitical, yet has to balance the competing interests of his prime ministers.

The King’s response – or lack thereof, in the view of critics – has drawn scrutiny in Canada.

Charles is King of the United Kingdom and King of Canada – nations taking different approaches to Trump. Canada has hit back against the threats to its sovereignty and tariffs on its goods, which have stirred a rally-round-the-flag moment. Carney came to power casting himself as the person best placed to take on Trump and announced the King’s visit days after the election.

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Britain, meanwhile, has sought a more conciliatory approach with the president in hopes of protecting the “special relationship”. The royal family is a tool of soft power for the government, which has sought to deploy it to secure more amicable ties with Trump.

That has put the King in a “delicate diplomatic situation”, said Carolyn Harris, a royal historian and instructor at the University of Toronto’s school of continuing studies.

When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Washington in February, he extended an unprecedented second state visit to Trump, an invitation that was signed by the King and presented with much flourish in the Oval Office.

“A beautiful man, a wonderful man,” Trump said of Charles, as he scanned the two-page letter.

Canadians were not amused.

“To be frank,” Carney told Sky News this month, “they weren’t impressed by that gesture, quite simply, given the circumstance. It was at a time when we were being quite clear … about the issues around sovereignty.”

At a news conference during Starmer’s visit, a reporter asked if the King was concerned about Trump’s repeated threats to annex one of the 14 realms, in addition to the UK, where Charles is head of state. Starmer replied that Canada did not come up in his conversations with Trump.

The president quickly cut Starmer off.

Subtle signals from Buckingham Palace

Britain and Canada are constitutional monarchies, and the monarch is meant to reign above the fray. Convention dictates that Charles cannot make grand pronouncements on international issues without the explicit request or advice of his prime ministers.

“He can’t freelance,” Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy, said. “He’s not a politician.”

Monarchs can offer broad support for their governments, analysts said, including through symbolism and pageantry, and royal watchers have been keeping their eyes peeled for subtle signals of support for Canada from Buckingham Palace.

They have speculated about several possible examples.

Charles issued a rare message marking Canada’s flag day in February. Later, he wore Canadian military honours on his uniform while visiting a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, sported a red tie while meeting Carney and planted a maple tree at Buckingham Palace.

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore a red dress and matching hat to a Commonwealth Day event, the headline in a British tabloid was: “Oh Canada? Kate’s statement outfit”.

“There has been a whole series of those kinds of symbolic gestures,” Goodale said. “Probably over the course of the last two months, [there have been] more of those signals about Canada than ever before in any other two-month period in Canadian history.”

Elizabeth became the first monarch to open Canada’s parliament in 1957 in what was her first live televised address. Charles, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, and Camilla last visited Canada in 2022. This will be his first visit as sovereign.

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While Charles’ visit has drawn mostly positive reactions, not everyone is thrilled. The federal and provincial pro-sovereignty parties in Quebec condemned Carney for extending an invitation to the King.

The group Citizens for a Canadian Republic welcomed Charles’ visit because it hoped it would provide an opportunity to open the debate on whether Canada should become a republic.

“While the group questions how [Charles’ opening of parliament will] tell the world we’re a sovereign, independent and autonomous nation, strategically, CCR also recognises that the ‘out of sight, out of mind’, low visibility of a non-resident monarchy is a significant factor in Canada’s lack of political motivation to deal with ending its last constitutional ties to Britain,” it said in a statement.