King Charles to deliver throne speech as Parliament resumes

Updated on Monday, May 26, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. ET

King Charles will deliver the speech from the throne this week, the first time since 1977 that a monarch has opened Canada’s Parliament, arriving as another royal anniversary is quietly being marked in the North.

This spring marks 50 years Charles’s visit to the Arctic in April 1975. 

“It was amazing … there was absolutely nothing there,” Charles said in 1975, recalling his arrival over the stark landscape of Frobisher Bay — now Iqaluit — where the then-26-year-old Prince of Wales touched down for a two-day visit during a cross-country tour.

The visit coincided with Toonik Tyme, the city’s annual spring festival. Charles was named an Honorary Toonik and drew large crowds wherever he went.

“Prince Charles swept through Frobisher Bay in a tour that left the public disappointed in its brevity, but pleased with the good humour of the Prince himself,” reporter Gilda Mekler wrote in Inukshuk, the predecessor to Nunatsiaq News.

More than 500 residents gathered at the airport to greet the young royal, who “stepped off the plane, looking impeccably British and royal (and cold) in a light topcoat,” Mekler wrote. 

Then-prince Charles receives a tour of the Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio during a visit to the Canadian Arctic in April 1975. (Photo courtesy of Janet Senior)

He was greeted by then-commissioner Stuart Milton Hodgson, Toonik Tyme founder and Iqaluit’s first mayor Bryan Pearson, RCMP officer Bob Pilot and other dignitaries and their wives. 

Former editor Monica Connolly recalled what reporter Gilda Mekler told her about the community feast held in the prince’s honour. 

During the event, Charles and his party wandered through the venue and found themselves at a table where Inuit were sharing traditional food — raw seal meat.

“Very healthy, quite popular with Inuit, but a little off-putting for a young man fresh from Britain,” Connolly said.  

“Gilda thought it would be a neat story if the prince ate some. At first he said no thanks, but she kept urging him until he got up the courage to try some. It is not recorded what he said, but it didn’t make him sick, and he was seen to be a very good sport.”

The future king also visited Pangnirtung and Resolute Bay, where he went diving under the Arctic sea ice with explorer Joseph MacInnis. He also visited the Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio, where he received a wall hanging. 

In 2017, Charles returned to Iqaluit as part of a royal tour marking Canada’s 150th anniversary, this time accompanied by Camilla, the then-Duchess of Cornwall. The couple toured Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park with Peter Taptuna, who was premier at the time.

Now, as King, Charles will deliver the throne speech in Ottawa on May 27.

The throne speech opens a new session of Parliament and outlines the government’s legislative agenda. It’s usually delivered by the governor general, the sovereign’s representative in Canada.

The last time a monarch delivered one in Canada was in 1977, when Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, addressed Parliament during her Silver Jubilee tour.

The King and Queen Camilla will arrive in the capital on Monday, when they will be welcomed at the Ottawa airport by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, Prime Minister Mark Carney and a ceremonial guard from the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Later that afternoon, the King and Queen will be at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, where they will meet with individuals and organizations “showcasing Canadian identity and diversity,” the federal government website said. 

They will be meeting with the Governor General and the prime minister at Rideau Hall, the governor general’s Ottawa residence, that evening.

“Our Canadian identity is deeply rooted in our constitution and this visit highlights the enduring relationship between Canada and the Crown,” Simon said in a statement. 

On Tuesday, the Royal Couple will travel in a carriage through downtown Ottawa, along Wellington Street, from the Bank of Canada to the Senate of Canada Building, escorted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride. 

Upon arrival, His Majesty will be greeted with full military honours, including a Royal Salute, a guard of honour, and a 21-gun salute. 

At 11 a.m., King Charles will open the 45th Parliament of Canada with the speech from the throne, outlining the federal government’s agenda for the new session.

Correction: This article has been updated from its originally published version to correctly identify the location of then-Prince Charles’s visit to the Pangnirtung Tapestry Studio, which was incorrectly identified.