King Charles delivers soaring poetry and gristly prose in Throne Speech to giddy Senate

Before we get to the main attraction, it must be said that the long wait on the Senate floor before King Charles arrived to deliver the Throne Speech on Tuesday offered unparalleled political people-watching.

Guests began arriving two hours in advance, mingling freely until the command to “Order!” brought everyone to their seats and pin-drop silence.

On one side of the Red Chamber, the front row was reserved for former prime ministers and spouses; Kim Campbell shared a bench with Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau and Mila Mulroney. Directly in front of them, in the centre of the room, sat the justices of the Supreme Court.

And on the other side, facing PM Row, was the governors-general bench, where Adrienne Clarkson, John Ralston Saul, Michaëlle Jean, David and Sharon Johnston and Diana Fowler LeBlanc, widow of Roméo LeBlanc, were seated.

Provincial premiers, senators and all manner of bold-faced political figures filled the rest of the room, a live-action Canadian nerd version of Where’s Waldo?

Just in case anyone might have forgotten to pay attention to Mr. Trudeau, he helped them out by wearing a pair of orange and green retro Adidas running shoes with his blue suit. A few of the British reporters in the gallery were puzzled and mildly offended by this, wondering if there was some tradition they’d missed that explained it. No, Commonwealth friends, this is just that guy’s deal.

There were multiple points in the morning when the Senate was called to order for some bit of ceremony, and then there would be another break in the solemnity. Like a classroom with a substitute teacher who’s in over their head, conversation would kick in at a low hum and then reach a roar as everyone left their seats again.

Mr. Harper and Mr. Trudeau, seated side by side, talked up a storm for long periods of time, so if you are a skilled lip-reader, boy, do we have a gig for you.

A steady parade of politicians and officials lined up to take photos in front of the two ornate thrones where the King and Queen Camilla would sit. It’s validating in a very basic human way to realize that the people in charge are giddy tourists, too.

Once the royal couple entered, in a procession along with Prime Minister Mark Carney and various dignitaries, the whole room changed, the amorphous buzz of excitement narrowing into a collective beam of attention fixated on them.

“This is my 20th visit to Canada, spread over the course of more than half a century, and my first as sovereign,” the King said. “As I’ve said before, every time I come to Canada, a little more of Canada seeps into my bloodstream, and from there straight to my heart.”

At this, an audible, visible ripple of something warm and eager – approval, elation, gratitude? – rolled across the crowd. When you’ve spent months listening to a mad king say he wants to take over your country or at least destroy it, it’s heartening to hear a decent king say something different.

“I’ve always had the greatest admiration for Canada’s unique identity,” Charles went on, “which is recognized across the world for bravery and sacrifice in defence of national values, and for the diversity and kindness of Canadians.”

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At first, he spoke very clearly in the first person, recalling “my dear late mother” opening Parliament in 1957, when the Second World War was still a fresh memory.

His remarks about Canadian sacrifice in combat, a confident, independent country rooted in admirable values, and the importance of such a nation in a world that is once again changing profoundly landed with gilded heft given the sense that they were his own thoughts.

But the nature of a Throne Speech is that the government is putting words in the Crown’s mouth. At some imperceptible point on Tuesday, the King switched from reflections in his own voice to reading the text of a speech that is very much a political document.

There’s the old idea that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. But then there’s what that mix means when your head of state comes to town to read your parliamentary mission statement.

You get the soaring, high-minded meditations on what your nation is and could be, read by a figure of deep history and dignity in a plummy voice instantly recognizable to most of the world. But you also get the most gristly, crass, domestic partisan bean-counting delivered by that very same man.

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And so you had the King describing how Canada “has dramatically changed, repatriating its Constitution, achieving full independence and witnessing immense growth,” as well as touting plans for “cutting municipal development charges in half for all multiunit housing.”

Then he talked about Juno Beach, Vimy Ridge and the Somme, recalling that “at those places and many others forever etched into our memories, Canadians fought and died alongside our closest allies.” He also explained how the government is “reducing middle-class taxes and saving two-income families up to $840 a year.”

The effect was a bit like hiring a great Shakespearean actor to order for you at the drive-through: impressive and unforgettable, certainly, but also a tad unseemly and perhaps beneath the dignity of the person you’ve engaged for the occasion?

But those awkward moments of grinding up political bone and sinew disappeared quickly enough beneath the glowing declarations of Canadian purpose, ambition and identity – especially vivid given that the sad, angry ochre man is still lumbering about.

Then, near the very end of the speech, Charles switched back to the first person in both language and reflection.

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He reminded the senators and MPs that when his mother opened the Canadian Parliament almost 70 years earlier, she told them that “no nation could live unto itself” at that moment in the world’s history.

“It is a source of great pride that in the following decades, Canada has continued to set an example to the world in her conduct and values as a force for good,” the King said.

And then, with his final line, Charles earned his second audible murmur of appreciation from the Red Chamber, the collective emotional bookend to his opener about Canada living more in his bloodstream and heart with each visit he’s made to our shores.

“As the anthem reminds us,” the King of Canada said for the whole world to hear, “the true north is indeed strong and free.”