Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
One hundred years on from the opening of Canada House in London, King Charles received a key that brings him full circle back to his great-grandfather King George V.
King Charles and Queen Camilla paid a visit to Canada House on Tuesday to celebrate 100 years since the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom first opened its doors. It comes a week before they depart for their first official visit to Canada since their accession in 2022.
Canada House is home to the High Commission but is also a hub of Canadian arts, heritage and culture and is the home of Canada’s first diplomatic mission abroad. A new floor map commissioned by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society depicts the country’s National Parks, National Historic Sites, and National Marine Conservation Areas, which the King and Queen viewed during their visit. A guide pointed out important locations along the map
Chief Perry Bellegarde, an honorary president of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, said to reporters about the King’s upcoming visit: “To have the head of state, the monarch, come, is huge. And to read the speech from the throne sends a very strong message that Canada is an independent sovereign country.”
While viewing the map, Queen Camilla pointed out a region of Quebec that she’d previously visited on a holiday; King Charles was shown a national park straddling Alberta and the Northwest Territories where buffalo are being reintroduced.
Following their tour of the floor map, the King and Queen attended a reception for Canadian citizens and High Commission staff before Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ralph Goodale, presented King Charles with a new key to Canada House, echoing the gold, silver and bronze cast key that King George V received upon the opening of Canada House in 1925.
According to Buckingham Palace, the Centenary Key was designed by Morgan Asoyuf and features a Raven holding the sun and is struck on Canadian silver and ruby. The Raven is a central hero in the Northwest Coast Indigenous origin stories and he brings light to the world, hence the sun. The cedar box that holds the key is painted black and ochre red in the Ts’myen style with Raven’s wings, human hands and salmon to represent the life cycles along the Northwest Coast.
The overall design “represents innovation, travel and intercultural trade” combined with “London’s historical silverwork with the traditional methods of Northwest Coast art.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla will pay their first official visit to Canada from 26-27 May. The King will become the first king to deliver the Speech from the Throne at the State Opening of Parliament, a task usually undertaken by the Governor General (save twice, in 1957 and 1977, when Queen Elizabeth II gave the speech).
The invitation to give the Speech to the Throne came from newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said the gravity of the ongoing trade war and threats to Canada’s sovereignty merited a visit from the King.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ralph Goodale said, “The prime minister has made it clear that Canada is not for sale now, is not for sale ever, and I think he probably added five ‘nevers’ after that to make the point.
“The King as head of state will reinforce the power and the strength of that message and it is… captured in our anthem. We are the true north, strong and free and we will stay that way.”
Buckingham Palace briefed reporters, telling them that although the King and Queen are only in Canada for two days, they “are very much looking forward to the programme, mindful that it is a short visit but hopefully an impactful one.”