Monarchist League dismisses 'King of Canada' story as nonsense

Reported by: Joel Noe

Source: Canada News

First Reported by: Shannon Proudfoot, Postmedia News

Image by: Getty Images

 

 

Don't order Prince Harry's mail redirected to Rideau Hall in Ottawa care of the King of Canada just yet, the chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada says — and forget about dubbing anyone the Duke and Duchess of Moose Jaw.


A news story from Britain's Daily Telegraph suggested on Monday that Canada's leading monarchist organization wants to relocate Prince Harry to Ottawa and install him as "king of Canada" — a notion the chair of the Monarchist League calls "absurd."


"It's not practical, it's not doable and it's not desirable, frankly," says Robert Finch. "I've worked so hard to build up relationships with the palace and Clarence House. They're going to look at this and think, 'What the heck is going on over there?' It makes us look like whackos and that's not who we are."


Quoting a Quebec spokesperson for the league, the Telegraph story also suggested Canadian monarchists want Prince William to rotate residence every six months between London and realm countries such as Canada and Australia, or that they want to see various members of the Royal Family doled out like collector's items among Commonwealth countries.


"It's just completely fraught with impracticalities and things most people don't want or care about," Finch says. "Nobody asked the question, 'Hey, Harry, do you want to come to Canada?' Why is anybody going to up and move across the world to live their life?"


He blames an international game of broken telephone for the bizarre story. A league spokesman gave an interview to a French reporter who broached the idea of a different King or Queen and the member mentioned fringe ideas that have been floated by a very few people, Finch says, but the British report ran with it as the mainstream view in Canada.


"I think it's the silliest thing people can talk about," Finch says. "That is a discussion that's left for a few — and I mean a very few — academics."


The report also says Canadians want to give members of the Royal Family made-in-Canada titles, quoting another league spokesman who said the idea was floated when the territory of Nunavut was created in 1999.

Finch was so disturbed by the British story that he issued a statement clarifying that the Monarchist League has no interest in "fanciful constitutional projects" and thinks the monarchy and Canada's place in it are fine as they are.


"I can speak as a monarchist and an ordinary Canadian, and my sense is that Canadians are not at all interested in giving members of the Royal Family little cute titles to add to what they already have," he said in an interview. "They don't need them, we don't need them — there are better ways to strengthen the ties between Canadians and the Royal Family."