'Quite an honour': Canadians take a turn as the King's Life Guard in London
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A mounted ceremonial guard at Horse Guards, the official entrance to the royal palaces or riding down streets in central London is a familiar sight — and for the next eight days, Canadian soldiers will carry out the duties.
Members of Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), a tank regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces based in Edmonton, were invited by King Charles and took over duties as the King's Life Guard on Friday.
It's been a tradition for nearly 400 years and one the Canadians are proud to take on.
"It's quite an honour to be asked to come over here, to participate, to be able to help support, to have the riders come and do the ceremonial task for our sovereign," Maj. Colin Peterson, the officer commanding C Squadron with Lord Strathcona's Horse, told the CBC's Anna Cunningham.
Twenty-six members of the regiment are on hand for the duties that come as the regiment celebrates its 125th anniversary.
The Canadians will ride the horses of the U.K. army's Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and have been in the U.K. practising with the mounts, which are considerably bigger than their quarter-horses back home.
"Our kit needs to be a little modified to be able to fit onto their larger mounts, and from there we're able to practise, do some walk-throughs of exactly what the guard will entail, and then ride around the city to be able to get comfortable with riding through the traffic," Capt. Tom Lauterbacher, the Strathcona Mounted Troop leader, told Cunningham.
King Charles is the regiment's honorary colonel-in-chief.
"He's also not only the King of England, he is the King of Canada as well, the sovereign to our nation," Lauterbacher said.
"So that tie has always been there, and it's great to promote that and keep that going throughout the turmoil that the world ... obviously sees every day."
It is only the third time the ceremonial role has been carried out by soldiers from outside the U.K.
The two other times were also by Canadians. In 2012, the Mounties took on the role while they were in the U.K. to mark Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. In 2000, Lord Strathcona's Horse had its first run at the experience while commemorating its 100th regimental anniversary.
"We have such a long-established bond between our two countries," Lauterbacher said.
"We keep those close ties together, and we have to work together in the daily, the day-to-day of the world. So having us come over here just reinforces that Canada has the U.K.'s back and it's a tie that ... has been long-standing and that will always continue on."
Lord Strathcona's Horse will hand the ceremonial duties back to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment on July 21.
'Revealing' tweaks in the monarchy's annual report
It's not all about the money, although that is a big part of it.
When Buckingham Palace put out its own version of an annual report the other day, it offered its usual review of the monarchy's finances and engagements carried out by members of the Royal Family.
But the Sovereign Grant report for 2024-25 also offered subtle hints of how focuses and priorities may be shifting as King Charles settles in as monarch.
Those hints — including more references to the Commonwealth and an addition to the sovereign's role around supporting cultural heritage — caught the attention of Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert and lecturer in law at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Sometimes the section of the Sovereign Grant report where such things are mentioned mirrors the previous year's. At other times, it's been tweaked, Prescott said in an interview.
"Those tweaks are very revealing because they show how the institution itself is ... reappraising or clarifying its role based on what's happened in the previous year or two years."
Questions have loomed for a while now about the King and the Commonwealth. Compared with last year's Sovereign Grant report, this year's includes expanded references to the Commonwealth and the King's role as head of it.
Prescott said opportunities to discuss that have perhaps been missed once or twice, including during Charles's coronation in 2023, so to see more reference to that this year "was very, very interesting."
At its heart, the Sovereign Grant report is about money.
The grant, which is a proportion of profits from the Crown Estate, covers the Royal Family's costs for official duties and maintaining occupied royal palaces. For 2024-25, it remained unchanged, at 86.3 million pounds (about $160 million Cdn). Since 2017-18, it has also included funds for ongoing renovations at Buckingham Palace.
"Soft power is hard to measure but its value is, I believe, now firmly understood at home and abroad, as the core themes of the new reign have come into even sharper focus, and the Royal Family have continued in their service to the nation, realms and Commonwealth," James Chalmers, keeper of the Privy Purse, said in a release.
The anti-monarchy group Republic has repeatedly questioned and roundly criticized the money associated with the House of Windsor.
"The cost of the monarchy is out of control and these reports receive almost no political scrutiny," Republic CEO Graham Smith said in a release.
"Excuses are rolled out and baseless claims are made about value for money. Yet there is no excuse for this excess and abuse of public funds."
U.K. media headlines after the release of this year's report focused on the decision to take the royal train — which was much favoured by the late Queen Elizabeth — out of service by 2027 as a way of cutting costs. One two-day trip by the King in February cost nearly 45,000 pounds (about $83,500 Cdn).
That decision regarding the royal train, Prescott said, "shows you a concern about value for money" that perhaps wasn't the same under Elizabeth.
Charles "has to be more practical," he said.
"I think it's an example of sweeping away some of the more arcane, historic, anomalous aspects of monarchy that Elizabeth II could get away with."
According to the Sovereign Grant report, members of the Royal Family carried out more than 1,900 engagements in the U.K. and overseas in 2024-25.
The previous year's report said family members had carried out more than 2,300 engagements, but it indicated that the number would decrease as both Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales, had treatment after being diagnosed with cancer.
Still, Prescott said, it's "remarkable" the number of times King Charles has been seen in public.
"The fact that he was willing to go to Canada for less than 24 hours for that trip [in May] showed that he really wanted to do that, that he obviously felt this was a moment where he could do something," he said.
The Sovereign Grant report also notes the sovereign's "significant diplomatic role," including hosting state visits and making such visits overseas.
That hosting was on full display this week as King Charles and Queen Camilla welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron. Prince William and Catherine were also front and centre for the occasion, which brings out all manner of royal pomp, pageantry and dinner place settings — this time in Windsor Castle, because of the renovations at Buckingham Palace.
It is, Prescott noted, the first inward state visit from the head of a European country post-Brexit and comes at a time when there's an issue with illegal migration across the English Channel from France to the U.K.
"That the King mentioned it in his speech was interesting and shows you how the King is there to advance British foreign policy," he said.
Under Charles, Prescott suggested, there's a sense that the "international dimension of the monarchy" has come back. The pandemic had curtailed overseas travel, and Queen Elizabeth had also given it up.
State visits — at home or abroad — also give Charles an opportunity to make a speech, something Prescott said Charles can do better than his mother did.
Charles's speeches have "substantive content" and are memorable, he added.
"The [throne] speech in Canada was like the shining example of this, the most extreme example of this in some ways."
That speech, in Ottawa on May 27, came in the shadow of the existential threat to Canada posed by U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated "51st state" rhetoric and ended with Charles saying: "As the anthem reminds us: The true north is indeed strong and free."
"To go as far as [Charles] did was quite astounding, really," Prescott said.
"But then fundamentally, the state of Canada was getting threats from an external force. The head of state should speak out on that. Otherwise what's the point of them?"
A royal boost for young women in skilled trades
During Prince Edward's recent visit to Canada, he focused some of his attention on his namesake youth-oriented organization — the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award – Canada — and how it is evolving.
King Charles's younger brother took part in forums in Charlottetown and Toronto as the award — which has long had involvement from independent schools — works to blend trades and skills-based experiences into public education.
At the Toronto forum, Fanshawe College in London, Ont., was welcomed as the award's first post-secondary education operating partner in Canada. It will encourage women in a skilled trades program to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh program with the hope that it will boost their resumés and help them in the workforce.
The college's target audience for the award is its Women in Skilled Trades club, which has grown over the past two years from about 20 students to about 75, Ruth Lebelo-Almaw, Fanshawe's co-ordinator for women in Red Seal skilled trades, said in an interview.
"We are now seeing our students graduate, and they are now becoming the alumni mentors for the students that are just coming in, so we're creating a community here and we really feel that aligns with the community development goals of the award."
Lebelo-Almaw, along with Britney Hunter, chair of Fanshawe's apprenticeship and skilled trades accelerator, others from the college and educators from around Ontario chatted with Edward during the forum on July 2.
"He did come to speak to every single individual one-on-one, got to know everyone, how their relationship was with the program, asked a lot of very excellent questions, was really engaged, really excited about what we were doing, and listening," Hunter said in an interview.
She found Edward to be humble and down-to-earth, and welcomed his interest and support for the college's program and the potential for him to share what he learned about it outside Canada.
"The Royal Family, they have this ability to draw attention to really important programs."
Attracting more women to the skilled trades and helping them to remain in them is a really important mission for Fanshawe College, Hunter said.
"I think that we are excited [about] the attention this is getting because it's very important work. And we're hoping to carry that forward and show the power [Edward] has by drawing ... such positive attention to an excellent program."
More than 11,000 young people across Canada took part last year in the Duke of Edinburgh award, which has a goal of reaching more than 12,000 participants this year and expanding through new educational partnerships. The Peel District School Board, just northwest of Toronto, is exploring a partnership that is focused on multilingual learners and equity, the organization said in a news release.
"It's incredibly energizing to imagine the thousands of young people who will benefit as provincial education authorities and school boards embrace the award," CEO Mark Little said in the release.
Royally quotable"You're not able to function normally at home as you perhaps once used to."
— Catherine, Princess of Wales, talking candidly, as the BBC reported, about the long-term challenges of recovering after chemotherapy. Catherine made the comments during a visit to a hospital in eastern England.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, gave a message of "hope" to families devastated by the war 30 years ago — as she arrived in Bosnia carrying a powerful and heartfelt message from King Charles. [The Sun]
King Charles said the U.K. and France stand "ever closer" as he spoke of the "complex threats" facing the two neighbours at a state banquet for French President Emmanuel Macron. [ITV]
Families and survivors of the bombings in London in 2005 were joined by members of the Royal Family and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks. [BBC]
Queen Camilla handed out seeds and cuttings from her garden during a day of visiting charitable organizations to thank them for their work. [BBC]
Prince William is changing public attitudes toward homelessness in the way that his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, changed attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS, says former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown. [BBC]
King Charles and Queen Camilla began their annual official stay in Scotland — also known as Holyrood Week — by carrying out solo engagements in Edinburgh and later hosted a garden party together. [The Scotsman]
Travels with Queen Elizabeth are being recalled as the royal train nears the end of its line. [BBC]
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