Terry Barnes

Trudeau’s ‘coronation gift’ is just lip service to the monarchy

Justin Trudeau (Credit: Getty images)

Cynically dressed up as a coronation-related gift to the Canadian nation, just days after the coronation, the country’s leader Justin Trudeau has unveiled a Royal Crown of Canada.  

Trudeau is paying lip service to the monarchy Canada shares with Britain and the King’s other realms

Not a physical gold and jewelled crown, mind you, but a virtual crown, designed to replace St Edward’s crown – the very crown placed on the King’s head a week ago – on Canada’s coat of arms, official documents, and armed forces and Mountie badges and insignia. 

This new Canadian crown replaces the crosses and fleur-de-lys of St Edward’s Crown with stylised maple leaves. The rim is festooned by blue wavy line intended to symbolise native Canadians’ kinship with the sea and sky. At its apex, the orb and Maltese cross of St Edward’s Crown are replaced by an equally stylised snowflake that’s meant to denote Canada’s place as a snowbound northern realm.

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