Buckingham Palace has announced King Charles will be in Canada to attend the Opening of Parliament in Ottawa where he will give the Speech from the Throne. And he’ll be the first male monarch to take on that task.
The King will mark a first in his reign when he gives the Speech from the Throne in Ottawa. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was the first Monarch to give the speech.
On 14 October 1957, a young Queen Elizabeth II read the Speech from the Throne- this was the first time that the monarch had attended the Opening of Parliament in Canada.
Queen Elizabeth II’s father, King George VI, had visited Parliament and given Royal Assent to bills in person in 1939 but did not read the Speech. That means his grandson, King Charles III, will be the first man to wear the Crown to take on that role.
Queen Elizabeth II again read the Speech from the Throne in Canada on 18 October 1977 during her Silver Jubilee visit to Canada.Â
The Speech from the Throne, known in Canada as the Throne Speech, is an official speech prepared for the Monarch or their representative (the Governor General of Canada typically) to read when a new session of parliament is officially opened. It is written by the government, not the Monarch, and outlines the government’s plans for that session.Â
The Throne Speech is read out in the Senate. The King will sit on a throne created by Dominion Sculptor Phil White, a piece that includes a piece of an English walnut tree from the Great Windsor Park.
