For a royal visit to be successful, every hour and every minute count

The success or failure of the royal visit will be determined in its first hours, as the media send images to the world and the narrative starts to emerge. This trip is so short, and so focused around one theme – Canadian sovereignty, as embodied by the King of Canada – that the margin of error can be measured in hours, if not minutes.

The Sovereign’s Flag for Canada hoisted from the cockpit of the Royal Canadian Air Force plane as it taxis to a stop in Ottawa? Check.

King Charles III wearing his Order of Canada pin on the lapel of his suit? Check.

Queen Camilla choosing a historic Canadian brooch? Check.

Monday’s itinerary and its carefully choreographed mix of official duties and relaxed informality were designed to generate the images that Canada and its monarch want to project to the nation and world – that King Charles III knows, understands and supports this country, its people and its issues.

King Charles and Queen Camilla receive warm reception in Ottawa ahead of Throne Speech Tuesday

Live blog: Follow live updates from King Charles’s visit here

The threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to absorb Canada into his nation as its “51st state” is an existential danger, which is why having a King whom Mr. Trump openly admires can’t help but add to Canada’s defences. In addition, the monarch came to Canada before Mr. Trump has his much-desired state visit in the United Kingdom, which will be hosted by King Charles in his role as Britain’s head of state. The message couldn’t be clearer: Canada comes first.

Those lessons of how to quickly establish a narrative of success have been hard earned. When Charles first brought Camilla to Canada in 2009, they started in Cupids, N.L., which was marking its 400th anniversary. A combination of awful November weather and rural locale resulted in sparse crowds (57 people, one journalist counted). The large crowds that turned out at later events of that 11-day visit couldn’t reshape the narrative of their unpopularity in Canada.

The high-profile Caribbean tour in 2022 by the Prince and Princess of Wales (then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) got similarly knocked off course, this time by loud calls for slavery reparations that were only addressed in a scheduled speech by Prince William near the end of the tour.

A key lesson from such unsuccessful trips has been to always plan one visually interesting event on the first day to generate images to buttress the tone and theme of a visit.

So, at the first stop after their ceremonial arrival on Monday, the King dropped a puck to start a game of street hockey in front of enthusiastic crowds at a community event designed to be “festive, fun and dynamic,” according to the department of Canadian Heritage.

The pacing was equally precise – the pomp and diplomatic niceties of the airport greeting, then the casualness of the events at Lansdowne Park, then the formalities at Rideau Hall – so as to echo the feelings of Canadians: We’re taking the existential threat posed by the United States seriously but refuse to let it overwhelm us.

The “All for one and one for all” ethos was also seen when the King and Camilla met the country’s viceregal community – the Governor-General, all territorial commissioners and lieutenant-governors (except Newfoundland and Labrador’s Joan Marie Aylward, who had a prior engagement).

Even the blue-beech tree (Carpinus caroliniana) planted by the King and watered by Camilla was chosen for its “quiet strength” and as a “living symbol of resilience, adaptability and heritage,” according to the government’s media guide. The King gave its trunk a good shake after he’d piled soil from every province and territory at its base.

The early headlines point to this lightning-fast visit being a resounding success. “King and Queen welcomed in Canada for ‘momentous’ state visit,” screamed the Times of London, while France 24 went with “King Charles III visits Canada in apparent pushback against Trump’s annexation threats.”

There were still visual gaps in that maple syrup-drenched messaging. For instance, there are dead flowers lining the route to the Senate, which won’t be removed for Tuesday’s events there, even for a King and Queen. “The next cycle of planting will occur in the next two weeks with the complete removal of the tulips containers,” explained Valérie Dufour of the National Capital Commission.

If the large crowds that greeted the royal couple on Monday are any indication, those planters will be hidden by throngs of spectators as Charles and Camilla travel to the Senate in the state landau, escorted by a troop of Mounties on horseback.

They may be jet-lagged, but duty trumps all for the royals. Charles III and Queen Camilla flew more than 5,000 kilometres to fulfill their obligations of Canada, its people and its future.