There’s free speech — and then there’s the King’s speech.
Global News has learned that the cost to the Canadian treasury to have King Charles III read the speech from the throne in Canada’s Senate a year ago to open the 45th Parliament came close to $900,000.
Still, for the then-just-elected government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, the bill for the King’s two days in Ottawa was priceless.
For Carney, the presence of King Charles III in the Senate reading the speech from the throne — just the third time in Canada’s history a monarch has done that — was an important, symbolic and yet respectful riposte to U.S. President Donald Trump’s then near-constant disrespect of Canada’s sovereignty.
“This [was] an historic honour which matches the weight of our times,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa on May 2, 2025, just after his election win.
And the King appeared to match the moment, delivering a throne speech written by the government that carefully set out how the Carney government would assert its sovereignty in the face of a bellicose American president.
“As the anthem reminds us, the True North is indeed strong and free,” King Charles said to the applause of those present in the Red Chamber on May 27, 2025.
But bringing a King to the party comes with a hefty price tag.
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It started with a six-person advance party from the Royal household, flown over from London to Ottawa at Canada’s expense on a commercial flight — economy class, mind you — who were put up at Ottawa’s economy-class Lord Elgin Hotel, a block away from the National War Memorial, from May 7-9.
Internal government documents provided to Global News by access-to-information researcher Ken Rubin show that the Department of Canadian Heritage would be billed $23,838 for the flights, hotel, meals and transportation for that initial Royal six as they scouted out locations and reviewed the King’s program with Canadian government officials.
Then came the main event itself — the visit of Charles and Camilla from May 26-27.
First, as is the custom, the Canadian government dispatched one of its Royal Canadian Air Force CC-330 jets to London to pick up the royal couple and their delegation. The Department of National Defence did not respond to two emailed requests from Global News to provide the operating costs of the pair of return flights to pick up and return the flights, but a Global News estimate of the cost, based on U.S. Department of Transportation and industry sources, estimates for the cost of operating such a plane puts the cost of the two there-and-back flights at about $410,000.
The documents obtained by researcher Rubin detail the costs once the Royal delegation got to Canada.
First, Charles and Camilla travelled with 24 members of the Royal household. Some flew over on commercial flights at Canada’s expense; some travelled on that CC-330 RCAF jet. Some were put up at the “luxury Fairmont Chateau Laurier” hotel, next to Parliament Hill, while others stayed at the government-owned heritage property, 7 Rideau Gate, on the grounds of the Rideau Hall, where Charles and Camilla spent the night. (Rideau Hall is, after all, the property of the monarch!)
Meanwhile, the federal government had to hire the RCMP’s ceremonial team. The horses and their red-serged riders cost $20,605.72. The cost of the additional security for the visit provided by the RCMP was not disclosed.
To close streets around the War Memorial and around Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park — where the Royals did a walk-through upon their arrival in Canada — the City of Ottawa was paid $146,945.
The costs to provide bleachers for the media to sit on during the King’s ceremony at the National War Memorial cost Canada $5,335. Crowd management was billed at $3,500. And sidewalk construction at the memorial had to be completed at a cost of $12,039.70.
All in: The bills presented to the Department of Canadian Heritage totalled $461,940.50.
Add in the estimated $410,000 cost of the RCAF flights to bring the Royals and their household to Ottawa, and the cost of the King’s speech adds up to more than $871,000.
