Wedding announcement signals royal makeover 

Toronto, Feb 11, 2005 – Upon the news on Thursday of Prince Charles’ plans to wed Camilla Parker-Bowles, Canadian republicans extended their sincere good wishes. 

“Citizens for a Canadian Republic has always strived to separate issues relating to the personal lives of the Royal family from that of the monarchy as it relates to Canada’s constitution”, said the group’s national director, Tom Freda. “We wish them both the best.” 

However, despite the congratulatory message, the non-partisan group points out that today’s announcement should be taken as a warning to Canada of things to come. 

“We suspect this move may be a concerted effort to smooth the way for Charles’ early accession to the throne. The Queen’s reign is nearing its end and it makes sense that real concern may exist over whether the public will warm up to the Prince Regent and his Consort in time to succeed her,” said Freda. 

He adds, “Prince Charles currently commands a fraction of the popularity of the Queen in both Britain and Canada and a wedding may be deemed the perfect PR campaign to reverse that.

The group cites January 2005 opinion polls in Britain that show Prince Charles languishing in an eleven percent approval rating. And although there are no recent popularity polls for Canada, 1997 results indicated that despite Queen Elizabeth’s consistently high personal approval rating, only 18 per cent opposed replacing her with a Canadian as head of state when she dies.

In the lead-up to the April 8 event, CCR will be taking the opportunity to remind Canadians of the merits of placing a high priority on dealing with the issue of the monarchy now. Otherwise, Canada could face the very real future possibility of having Charles imposed on Canada as head of state arbitrarily, before a dialogue is completed on whether this is in Canada’s best interests as an independent nation. 

“In the meantime, it’s going to be an immensely exciting spring for Canadian republicans,” Freda suggests. “With the parliament of fellow Commonwealth nation Barbados voting on becoming a republic in March, the Royal wedding in April and the Queen and Prince Phillip visiting Canada in May, we fully expect the debate on the monarchy to heat up considerably. We welcome the opportunity to state the case for a democratically selected Canadian as head of state”.   

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