Royal Commentator Richard Fitzwilliams discusses the 'diplomatic minefield' King Charles is navigating by opening the Canadian Parliament.Fitzwilliams told GB News that the use of the Monarchy and soft power in this way is something that "no other country probably could".WATCH ABOVE.
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00:00This is a real moment of significant symbolism. The British monarch hasn't opened Canada's
00:07parliament in this way for around 50 years. Yes, indeed. And also at a time, as you mentioned,
00:15a very considerable sensitivity politically. There is absolutely no doubt that this is the
00:22use of the monarchy when it comes to soft power in a way that no other country probably could.
00:30I mean, it is a diplomatic minefield. On the one hand, we bear in mind that Prime Minister
00:36Zakir Starmer gave an invitation to President Trump for a second state visit to Britain,
00:43which is unique. That will apparently or possibly occur in September. On the other hand, as you
00:49mentioned, President Trump has been making threats of annexation when it comes to Canada. And the
00:56sensitivity of this is exacerbated by the fact that 80 percent of Canada's exports and a third of their
01:03imports come to the United States. And this will be King Charles, who's made it clear through a variety
01:11of symbolic gestures, the medals he's worn on occasion, planting a maple tree, receiving dignitaries
01:19in recent weeks in recent weeks where he stands. He is head of state of Canada. He will be opening
01:24parliament. The Queen Elizabeth last did that in 1957 and making the speech from the throne, which Queen
01:31Elizabeth did in 1977. So this is historic. And every single nuance will be something that will be very,
01:41very, very significant.
01:44And of course, it was one of the first asks of the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. Now,
01:50he, of course, was previously the governor of the Bank of England. I mean, huge ties between the United
01:54Kingdom and Canada. I mean, it does seem that there is this sort of burgeoning relationship there. But
02:01many in Canada are keen to stress that the monarchy is, of course, separate from British government.
02:07And this doesn't necessarily mean that the British government is making any big gesture with regard
02:13to the sovereignty of Canada. Yes, this is extremely important. It's significant possibly to remember
02:20that the Queen, for example, visited the United States, Queen Elizabeth, in 1957 and 1959 as Queen of
02:29Canada, when she attended in 1973 the Chogum against the wishes of the then Prime Minister Edward Heath.
02:37She did so as Queen of Canada, as you say there, the dual roles and the speech the King makes,
02:44obviously, to be written by the Canadian government. But equally, it will undoubtedly contain a very
02:51great deal that is personal. And it is the nuances there and the emphases there that will carry a lot
02:59of diplomatic weight. And also, of course, how will President Trump respond to this?
03:04There are huge nuances there. Richard Fitzwilliams, I'm afraid we've run to the end of this