Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticized King Charles’s invitation to Donald Trump for a second state visit.
He said the invitation had undermined the efforts of his government to project a united front against the president of the American president in the annex of Canada.
Since his entry into office in January, Trump has repeatedly said that he wanted Canada to become the 51st American state, a suggestion that has made Canadians angry and left Great Britain to try to cross a fine line between the two North American countries.
King Charles is also head of state of Canada, a former British colony, and the monarch has made a number of symbolic gestures in recent months, carrying Canadian medals, planting a maple and referring to himself as the king of Canada.
Charles, who is still undergoing cancer treatment, should also attend the opening of Parliament by the State of Canada on May 27, the first time that a British monarch attests the event in Ottawa since 1977.
Carney, in an interview with Sky News, was questioned about the move of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in February to use his visit to the Oval office to give an invitation from the monarch for an unprecedented second state visit to London.
“I think that to be frank, they (Canadians) were not impressed by this gesture … Given the circumstance. It was at a time when we were quite clear about sovereignty problems,” he said.
“All the problems around Canada’s sovereignty have been accentuated by the president. So no, it is not a coincidence, but it is also a moment of reaffirmation for Canadians,” he said.
Trump, whose mother was born in Great Britain and who praised the British royal family several times, agreed with a bilateral trade agreement limited with London this month.
