O Canada...can the past really protect?

Essays on the British Crown's role. And a murder mystery set in the colonial era

TWTB posing with a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer in dress uniform at a Canadian celebration a few years ago. The Mounties, an enduring symbol of Canada’s ties to British royalty, were created partly in fear of the US

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The Big Story:

King Charles’ visit to Canada as monarch of a country that Donald Trump wants to annex puts the spotlight on an ironic situation.

The British sovereign is called upon to protect a former colonial possession from those who would start a new round of imperial domination.

This places the British royal family in an unusual role: as a bulwark against imperialism despite symbolising the very system that once presided over a vast empire. (At its height, the British empire ruled one out of every five people in the world.)

Now, there is new focus on the evolving role of royalty as a soft-power foreign policy tool. And questions are being asked about modern Canada’s view of its constitutional monarchy. Is it really a proud symbol of Canadian sovereignty and a heritage distinct from the United States? Or is it an anachronism?

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These books offer context:

And here’s our QR code

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