Trudeau meets with King Charles to discuss 'matters of importance to Canada'
One of those matters is Canada's sovereignty, according to the prime minister
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with King Charles on Monday to discuss "matters of importance to Canada and to Canadians." The meeting comes as questions swirl over why King Charles, Canada's head of state, has not publicly commented on Donald Trump's threats to annex Canada.
Buckingham Palace confirmed Monday that the King received Trudeau in the Saloon, or main reception room, at Sandringham House, but offered no other details of the meeting.
Trudeau, who was in London meeting with European leaders as they try to shore up support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, mentioned the meeting during a Sunday press conference.
"As always, we will discuss matters of importance to Canada and to Canadians, and I can tell you that nothing seems more important to Canadians right now than standing up for our sovereignty and our independence as a nation," Trudeau said.
The prime minister's comments were a thinly veiled remark about Trump's talk of annexing Canada. For months, the U.S. president has mused that Canada should become the 51st state. At one point, Trump said Canada is "not viable as a country" without U.S. trade.
Absent thus far from Trump's annexation talk is King Charles, who serves as Canada's head of state. The monarch has never spoken publicly about Trump's remarks.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CBC News it would be a matter for the Canadian government, on whose advice the King acts. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch is a figurehead and the elected government acts in the monarch's name.
Trudeau was also asked by reporters whether he's asked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to speak up for Canada's sovereignty.
In response, Trudeau said he knows "our allies will continue to be there to count on Canada and defend Canada in our strong sense of identity and independence."
At a news conference during Starmer's White House visit on Thursday, a journalist asked him whether King Charles expressed concern over Trump's statements on annexing Canada.
Starmer dodged the question and accused the journalist of "trying to find a divide between us that doesn't exist."
"We're the closest of nations, and we had very good discussions today. But we didn't discuss Canada," Starmer said as the president interrupted him, saying, "that's enough."
Starmer faced questions about Trump's 51st state taunts from the opposition Liberal Democrats in question period on Monday.
Starmer said his government considers Canada "a close ally" and that the country has Britain's "strong support," while praising Canada's support for Ukraine and its efforts to train soldiers for Ukraine's conflict with Russia through Operation Unifier.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she doesn't believe the relationship between Canada and the United Kingdom has changed after Starmer's comments.
"It is just in our DNA to be close to the U.K.," Joly said, noting that she is in contact with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and national security adviser Jonathan Powell.
That said, in an event with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade on Friday, Joly noted she had warned her European counterparts about potential threats from Trump and told them Canada was the "canary in a coal mine."
After Trump threatened tariffs on the European Union, Joly said she "wrote to all of them, and I said, 'I told you.'"
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With files from J.P. Tasker and Holly Cabrera