King Charles hosts new Canadian PM Mark Carney

King Charles has hosted Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney at Buckingham Palace, as Donald Trump vows his intention to make the Commonwealth nation America’s 51st state. In a possible show of support for Ottowa as it also battles a trade war initiated by Trump, Charles — who is the King of Canada — wore a red tie to the meeting in the 1844 Room of the London royal residence. As the pair met on Monday afternoon, Charles — who must avoid becoming directly involved in politics — brought up the importance of audiences between a monarch and a prime minister, telling Carney: “I know these things are rather important.”

Agreeing with the monarch, Carney — who was sworn in as PM last week and last met Charles in March 2020, while governor of the Bank of England — said they had “much to catch up on”. The pair then sat down privately for a 30-minute meeting, with no aides in attendance, as is the custom for the King’s audiences with his prime ministers. While the King has faced some pressure to issue stauncher support for Canada in the face of Trump’s threats, he has given multiple possible signals of his backing for the country in recent weeks, including wearing Canadian military honours, planting a maple at Buckingham Palace, and sitting on a Canadian chair at last week’s Commonwealth Service.

Following the royal audience on Monday afternoon, Carney then travelled to Downing Street for a meeting with his British counterpart Sir Keir Starmer — who just last month hand-delivered a letter from Charles inviting Trump for a second state visit to the UK. Sir Keir, who has faced criticism over his failure to back Canada while visiting the White House last month, said it was “fantastic” to have Carney in the UK so early in his tenure and that the relationship between the two countries “has always been strong”.

He added: “Two sovereign allies with so much in common, shared history, shared values, shared King.” Sir Keir also praised Carney for helping to “protect us against some of the economic chaos of the Conservatives” during his time at the helm of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. Carney’s visit to the UK is his first foreign trip since taking office, and follows a meeting with France’s Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as Canada also takes part in discussions around a coalition of countries which could contribute to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. Ottowa took part in a virtual meeting of world leaders hosted by Sir Keir on Saturday, focused on the so-called “coalition of the willing”, alongside Australia and New Zealand as well as European nations. At No 10, Sir Keir thanked his Canadian counterpart for his “approach to Ukraine”, saying: “It doesn’t surprise me that our two countries see this through a similar lens, with the same objectives.”

The Canadian premier said his country and the UK have a “remarkable” history built on “shared values”.

“We’re at a point in history where the world is being reordered, and your leadership, the leadership of the UK, I’ll use the example ... of Ukraine, what you’ve been able to do with President Macron to bring together a coalition of the willing at a crucial time, I think, will be decisive, must be decisive, in coming to a lasting solution there.” Carney told Sir Keir he was “honoured” to take part in the Saturday call as his first international engagement since taking office, Downing Street said in a readout of the meeting.

Canada is facing a trade war with the US, with Donald Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium since his return to the White House, and repeatedly proposing Canada should become America’s 51st state. While Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister of Canada last week, Trump’s threats have served to fuel a revival in domestic support for the long-governing party ahead of the upcoming federal election, in which it had previously been headed for a near-certain defeat.