Why King Charles III is delivering a rare speech in Canada

TORONTO (AP) — King Charles III is coming to Canada to deliver a message: Canada is a sovereign nation distinct from the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestion that the U.S. annex its northern neighbor prompted new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to invite Charles to give the speech from the throne on Tuesday where he will lay out the Canadian government’s agenda when Parliament reopens.

The monarch is the head of state in Canada, which is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies.

“Canada has a steadfast defender in our sovereign," Carney said when he announced the visit earlier this month.

It is extraordinarily rare for the monarch to deliver what’s called the speech from the throne in Canada. Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, only did it twice in her 70-year reign. The last time was in 1977.

Canadians are largely indifferent to the monarchy, but Carney has been eager to show the differences between Canada and the U.S. and he said that the king’s visit clearly underscores the sovereignty of Canada.

The Americans had a revolution to gain independence from Britain. Canada remained a colony until 1867 and continued thereafter as a constitutional monarchy with a British-style parliamentary system.

“We’re different,” former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said. “We are not the United States. It sounds simple, but that’s what the visit says.

“We don’t have the same institutions. We don’t have the same history,” Charest said. "We are a different country with a different choice in terms of how how we built ourselves, and King Charles tells that story.”

This will be Charles' first visit as monarch. He visited Canada 19 times as prince. The king has been showing his support for Canada in recent months, including displaying Canadian military medals on his chest during a visit to a Royal Navy aircraft carrier.

Historian Robert Bothwell said that the king’s speech in Parliament “is a gesture of solidarity and identity that can be construed to be a gesture of support.”

But new U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said sending messages isn't necessary.

“We're thrilled that the king will be here. If there's a message in there, you know, there's easier ways to send messages. Just give me a call. Carney can call the president at any time,” Hoekstra told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “But I know what the implication is. It's, oh about ... the 51st state, it's over. And, you know, move on.”

The speech sets the legislative agenda for a new session of Parliament. It's not written by the king or his advisers in the U.K., as the king serves as a nonpartisan head of state.

The king will read what is put before him by Canada's prime minister and his team. The speech is usually read by Canada's governor general, the monarch's representative in Canada. The governor general holds a constitutional but mostly ceremonial and symbolic position.

“King Charles is unlikely to comment directly on the 51st state issue. Yet, his introductory remarks could feature broad statements about Canada’s integrity and sovereignty. At least this is what many Canadians would like him to do," said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Former Canadian prime ministers and governor generals will attend the speech. The king will then pay his respects at the National War Memorial before a Royal Canadian Air Force flyby.

Béland said the monarchy has long been unpopular among Quebec’s French-speaking majority, and some nationalist voices in the province have been critical of the Carney government’s decision to invite the king to deliver the throne speech.

"Whether the separatists work themselves into a lather over this frankly, I don’t care. I don’t think Quebecers will care a lot,” said Charest, the former premier of Quebec. “The may not like the monarchy or whatever they’d like to read into it, but British institutions have served us very well.”

Britain's King Charles, left, is presented with the Key to Canada House by High Commissioner for Canada, Ralph Goodale, during a visit to Canada House to mark 100 years since it opened, at Trafalgar Square, in London, Tuesday May 20, 2025. (Arthur Edwards/Pool via AP)

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla look at the Key to Canada House which was presented to the King by High Commissioner for Canada, Ralph Goodale, during a visit to Canada House to mark 100 years since it opened, in London, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Arthur Edwards/Pool via AP)

Britain's King Charles, centre left, and Queen Camilla leave after visiting the Canada House Trafalgar Square, in London, Tuesday, May 20, 2025 to mark 100 years since it opened in June 1925. (Arthur Edwards/Pool via AP)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)