History of Monarchy in Canada - Between The Wars

Between The Wars

Events took place in 1926 that would set the course for a dramatic shift in the role of the federal viceroy and ultimately result in the creation of a distinct monarchy for Canada. Until that point, the governor general remained a representative in Canada of the British government, but was still able to exercise the Royal Prerogative over the Canadian prime minister without orders from the King in his British Council back in Westminster. When the governor general at the time, the Lord Byng of Vimy, did just that and forced Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to resign in what came to be known as the King–Byng Affair, the latter was, once reappointed following that year's general election, motivated to raise at the 1926 Imperial Conference questions about the relationship between the Dominions and the United Kingdom. The first ministers were mostly receptive, and, following the close of the meeting, the Balfour Declaration was issued, wherein it was declared that the Dominions of the British Crown were to be considered equal to the United Kingdom, as Mackenzie King had wished, and the Governor General of Canada, as with all the other governors-general of the empire, would be the direct representative of the King in person, rather than a diplomatic channel between the Canadian and British governments.

The first evocation of these concepts in statute law was seen in 1927, the same year King George V and his consort, Queen Mary, opened Canada House in London and Princes Edward and George unveiled the Laurier monument on Parliament Hill, dedicated the Princes' Gates, and opened Union Station in Toronto, after which Edward went to Alberta to spend time on his ranch. Passed by the British parliament, the 1927 Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act altered part of the King's title to reflect his new status as monarch of each Dominion individually, rather than as King of the United Kingdom throughout all countries. Then, in 1931, the notions of independence and equality were manifested in the Statute of Westminster's legal end to the British parliament's ability to legislate for the Dominions without the expressed consent of the latter. As a result, laws outlining the succession—notably, the Act of Settlement, 1701—as pertaining to Canada, were now under the control of the Canadian parliament, and the King could only be advised on Canadian affairs by his Canadian ministers. The monarchy of Canada had "assumed its full constitutional meaning."

Though the Canadian Cabinet had in 1930 suggested to the King that he appoint his son, Prince Albert, Duke of York, as Governor General of Canada, both George V and the Duke were hesitant; the latter had two young daughters—a toddler (later Queen Elizabeth II) and a newborn (Princess Margaret)—and the former wished that Albert remain close to compensate for the behaviour of the Prince of Wales. As the Statute of Westminster had not yet been implemented, the British Cabinet eventually advised against the Canadian idea and instead recommended the Earl of Bessborough as viceroy, though this was ultimately because the Lord Passfield, then the Minister for the Dominions, thought that, despite the request directly from their government, Canadians disliked the Royal Family. As Albert eventually went on to become King George VI, had the Canadian Privy Council's idea been accepted, a Canadian Governor General who represented the King would have gone on to become King of Canada himself.

Canadians (and the Commonwealth as a whole) heard in 1932 the first Royal Christmas Message, as read by George V, who, three years later, celebrated his Silver Jubilee. The euphoria was short lived, however, as the King died on 20 January 1936, and even the hope that surrounded the accession of his eldest son as King Edward VIII did not, as with his reign, survive the year. Despite his popularity in Canada and elsewhere when he was Prince of Wales, the new King's relationship with the twice-divorced, American socialite Wallis Simpson caused serious concern, more so among Canadians, who were more familiar with the personal life of their sovereign than the populace of the UK, due to the British press' self-imposed ban on publishing the exploits of the King and Simpson. Governor General the Lord Tweedsmuir conveyed to Buckingham Palace and British prime minister Stanley Baldwin his observations of Canadians' deep affection for the King, but also the outrage towards Canadian puritanism—both Catholic and Protestant—that would occur if Edward VIII married a divorcée. Further, the Cabinet telegrammed the King, urging him to place his duty as sovereign above his feelings for Simpson. As popular anger mounted in tandem with the imminence of a marriage between Edward and Simpson, Baldwin drafted proposed solutions to the crisis; as with most other Dominion prime ministers, Canada's, Mackenzie King, rejected the notions that either a royal or morganatic marriage take place, leaving only the King's abdication as the final option. As such, Edward VIII renounced his Canadian Crown on 10 December, giving, with the consent of his Canadian ministers, Royal Assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936, and his brother became King George VI. A proclamation of accession was drafted by the Cabinet and read by the Prime Minister as a radio broadcast. The Canadian parliament later passed the Succession to the Throne Act, 1937, to ratify the abdication into Canadian law and demonstrate Canada's independence from the United Kingdom. Mackenzie King wrote in his diary just before the abdication that he had "no fears about Canada... n all probability with the Duke and Duchess of York as King and Queen, and with the little Princess Elizabeth in the picture, there will be a much happier situation in the New Year than there has been at any time since the time of George V."

In an effort to foster Canadian identity, and knowing that George VI would assume the separate title King of Canada at his upcoming coronation, Buchan conceived in 1937 of a royal tour by the monarch, so that, through seeing "their king performing royal functions, supported by his Canadian ministers," Canadians might be made more aware of their country's status as an independent kingdom. Mackenzie King agreed with this notion, though also felt, along with officials in the United Kingdom, that the trip would have an element of public relations: the presence of the King and Queen, in both Canada and the United States, was calculated to shore up sympathy for Britain in anticipation of hostilities with Nazi Germany. Thus, the Prime Minister, while in London in May 1937 for the coronation, formally consulted with the King on the matter, and, more than a year later, George VI agreed. On 17 May 1939, the King of Canada, accompanied by his royal consort, Queen Elizabeth, stepped off the Canadian Pacific liner RMS Empress of Australia at Wolfe's Cove, in Quebec City, and became the first reigning sovereign of Canada to set foot on Canadian soil.

The reaction by the public was positive beyond expectation, and from the start it was noted that the king was present as Canada's sovereign; a newspaper at the time stated: "The King of Canada walked yesterday, as he walks today, among his own. There can be welcomes elsewhere in Canada equal to his reception in Quebec. None will surpass it." The King immediately set about carrying out his royal duties, including receiving the new American envoy to Canada, granting Royal Assent to bills passed by parliament, and ratifying treaties, amongst other ceremonial tasks, such as presiding over celebrations on Parliament Hill for his Canadian official birthday, the first time this had been marked in the presence of the sovereign himself. After travelling to the west coast and back, meeting thousands of Canadians along the way (by the end of the first week alone, 2 million of Canada's 11 million inhabitants had turned out to see the royal couple) the King and Queen also conducted, between 7 and 10 June, a state visit on behalf of Canada to the United States. The royal couple then returned to Canada, touring the Maritimes and the still separate Dominion of Newfoundland.