
The King has expressed his “deepest affection” for Canada in the wake of Donald Trump’s threat to annex the country . His Majesty held a private audience at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday with two senior Canadian officials: Greg Peters, the senate’s Usher of the Black Rod, and Raymonde Gagné, the speaker. While such meetings are private, they are understood to have discussed topics “of great concern to all parties, both nationally and internationally”.
A royal source suggested that it would have been unusual, in the circumstances, if they had not discussed Trump’s provocative statements over Canada’s trade tariffs and sovereignty. The US president has repeatedly floated the idea that the United States could absorb Canada and make it the 51st state..