In Italy, a Canadian has a 'very humbling experience' meeting with King Charles

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After you've met someone briefly, there can be that moment when you think: There was something I didn't get a chance to say.

Maj. Casey Anderson, a military intelligence officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, had that thought after he chatted with King Charles and received a King's Coronation Medal from him recently in the Italian coastal city of Ravenna.

Charles was in Ravenna commemorating the 80th anniversary of the area's liberation during the Second World War, a military effort in which both Canadian and British forces played a role.

In 1944, Anderson's grandfather "was wounded liberating the city of Ravenna," Anderson said via Zoom from Italy, where he is stationed at NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples.

Anderson's grandfather didn't actually make it right into Ravenna during that military campaign,

"And so [that was] actually one of the things … which I didn't get the chance to tell His Majesty but maybe would have been quite interesting," Anderson said. "It was cathartic for me … to be invited to participate in this event."

Canada's King's Coronation Medal was created to mark Charles's coronation on May 6, 2023.

A total of 30,000 medals are being awarded to Canadians who have "made a significant contribution" to their community, province, territory or country, at home or abroad. Of the medal total, 4,000 are for members of the CAF.

Ceremonies have been taking place across Canada to award the medals.

Anderson, 37, says it's all "quite surreal" how he happened to receive his medal, along with two other Canadians, from the King in Italy. (Charles, while he was in Italy, made a point — unusual in such an international setting — of noting that he is King of Canada.)

The medal "is not the sort of thing that [Charles] would normally personally give out," Anderson said.

"This is not only a very humbling experience, but it's also extra unusual because it's happening abroad."

Anderson was chosen for the medal to honour his research and advocacy to preserve the legacy of the Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion, a First World War forerunner of the CAF's current military intelligence branch.

Circumstances and logistics, however, played into the fact that Anderson received it in Italy.

He had been slated to get it in Ottawa earlier in the year, but for various reasons, getting there from his home in Naples would have been difficult.

Several weeks after learning he would be receiving the medal, he was asked if he could be in Ravenna in April, although details were slim on exactly why. Then his military chain of command also asked him to go to Ravenna in April, leading a Canadian delegation to take part in the liberation ceremony.

"I am an intelligence officer, so I was starting to put two and two together," Anderson said.

Looking back, Anderson figures he was able to speak with Charles for a minute and a half or two minutes.

The King was "unbelievably gracious" and charming, Anderson said.

"In our brief interaction, [he was] using humour, asking about my family, asking me about my role in Italy," he said.

"I don't think he knows why I was actually receiving the award, but he congratulated me nonetheless for whatever I had done to receive it.

"It was for me a profoundly important moment in my military career and my life as a very proud Canadian individual."

While King Charles was in Canada this week, other Canadians reflected on their own receipt of a Coronation Medal.

"It was a real honour and a reflection of what everybody who got the award, the medal, how much they've done and what a great community that they've created, either in their own community or globally," Sherry Benson-Podolchuk, a retired RCMP officer who has done extensive work around workplace harassment and bullying, told the CBC's chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault in an interview from Gimli, Man.

"And it's just a ripple effect of good work, kindness, authenticness and wanting to make the world a better place."

WATCH | Coronation Medal recipients reflect on their experience: 

Medals specifically associated with events like coronations and jubilees started to be popularized in the early 20th century, says Justin Vovk, a royal historian at McMaster University in Hamilton.

"While orders of chivalry and knighthood were still somewhat bound to the old class system, medals were a way of including more of the monarch's subjects with these important milestones in their reigns."

After the First and Second World Wars, they also became an important way for the Crown to recognize the service and contributions of ordinary men and women, Vovk said via email.

"The way that medals are now used also serves to reflect the values of the monarchy, specifically in promoting service to our communities and our neighbours."

For Anderson, receiving the medal from Charles was an "incredible" experience.

"The thing that I've been telling people about in the aftermath of this event is — and I recognize that [Charles has] had a lot of practice — but the almost superhuman ability [he has] to connect with people in short snippets and also not to come across as utterly exhausted … and to put on a brave face, stiff upper lip, whatever you want to call it — it was amazing."

Anderson was also left marvelling at how Charles carried out his role that day, under the scrutiny of cameras, deploying "statecraft on the global stage."

He also considers Charles to be "incredibly impressive" in "his ability to navigate the complex world in which we live and to act as a diplomat for Canada and in the interest of Canada and all of the other realms in which he is head of state."

"It's incredible and part of that thing which I've found deeply humbling as part of this whole experience."

A boost in popularity for King Charles

Our friend in the CBC Politics bureau, J.P. Tasker, had this report the other day:

King Charles is enjoying a popularity boost and there is considerably more support for maintaining Canada's ties to the Crown now than when he assumed the throne, according to public opinion polls released this week around his two-day visit to deliver a historic throne speech.

After the long-reigning and hugely popular Queen Elizabeth died in 2022, there was talk across the Commonwealth realms, including in Canada, about whether it was time to do away with the Crown and embrace republicanism.

The U.K.-based Lord Ashcroft firm released a poll ahead of Charles's coronation showing particularly dire levels of support for the monarchy in Canada, finding this country ranked close to last among the 15 countries that have the King as their head of state.

At the time, just 23 per cent of the 2,020 Canadian respondents surveyed as part of that poll said they would vote to keep the Crown if there was a referendum, Lord Ashcroft found.

The picture has changed dramatically in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's 51st state taunts and sovereignty threats, which have prompted a revival of national pride and newfound affinity for Canadian institutions and symbols, polls suggest.

Also, some people here have got to know Charles better and like what they see, pollsters say.

Polling firm Pollara surveyed 3,400 Canadians between May 20 and 24 and found Charles's popularity in Canada has risen substantially since the last time the firm polled on the issue in 2022, with the number of people holding a positive view of the sovereign up seven percentage points to 44 per cent and those with a negative view down 10 points to 23 per cent.

That growth in personal popularity has fuelled support for Canada remaining a constitutional monarchy, Pollara found, with more respondents saying they want the country to keep the Crown (45 per cent) compared to the number who say they want it gone (39 per cent) — a reversal from the last poll the firm did when a plurality of people reported they want to cut ties.

In an interview with CBC News, Dan Arnold, chief strategy officer at Pollara, said there has been a "statistically significant" increase in support for Charles and maintaining the Crown in Canada.

"Canadians are feeling better about the Crown and I would speculate that's probably because they're looking for a little bit of stability in a world that feels unstable right now. And there's nothing more stable than an institution that's been around for multiple centuries," Arnold said.

"This is, to some extent, seen as an institution that gives us something in this fight with Trump."

He noted that while Charles's numbers still aren't as high as his mother's were, "we see a clear increase in terms of the people who feel good about him and a sharp decline in his negatives."

Arnold says Charles's performance as King is part of the reason why.

"Charles came to power at a time when there was a lot of controversy around him — anybody who's watched The Crown or followed the news for the last 30 years knows all about that — and he's been able to put some of that behind him or at least tamp it down a bit during his time on the throne," Arnold said, adding Charles's cancer battle may also have prompted some sympathy.

An Ipsos poll, also released this week, found 66 per cent of the 1,000 people it surveyed in May say Canada's relationship with the monarchy is useful because it sets us apart from our neighbours to the south who live in a presidential republic — up from 54 per cent who said the same in April 2023.

Sixty-five per cent of the Ipsos respondents said the monarchy is an important part of Canada's heritage, up from 58 per cent two years ago.

There's also been a drop in respondents who say Canada should cut ties to the Crown, falling from a high of 60 per cent in January 2020 to 46 per cent now — a result roughly in line with what Pollara found.

And it's not just polls that suggest Charles is enjoying a better standing in Canada — the monarch drew sizable crowds throughout Ottawa on his tour with Queen Camilla this week. The turnout was stronger than what greeted him on his 2022 visit, when he came as Prince of Wales.

Thousands of cheering spectators snaked through the parliamentary precinct to catch a glimpse of Charles in the landau ahead of his speech, a warm reception that appeared to prompt some emotion from the sovereign.

"Royals don't normally 'do' emotion, at least they do their very best to hide whatever feeling they have. But for some reason, King Charles seemed unable to do that on this occasion at the end of a short, but highly significant, visit," British broadcaster ITV noted in its coverage of the speech.

"It was the warmest of welcomes and the fondest of returns to a nation and a people we love," Charles and Camilla said in a joint statement after their visit.

John Fraser, founding president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, said he doesn't pay much attention to polls — support for the monarchy can go up and down depending on what's in the news.

But Fraser said it is evident more people are rallying around the Crown now than they were just a few years ago.

"Mr. Chrétien was on to something when he said we should give the Order of Canada to Trump," Fraser said in an interview referring to the former prime minister's quip, adding that the Trump factor has breathed new life into many Canadian institutions, not just the monarchy.

"The president may well have given the Crown in Canada a leg up," he said.

Charles's Canadian sovereignty talk in the throne speech this week — and his pledge that the country is "indeed" the True North "strong and free" — also likely gave the Crown's standing a boost, Fraser said, especially among people who were clamouring to see the head of state say something as the country faces Trump's annexationist musings.

WATCH | The full throne speech read by King Charles: 

"I thought he handled himself impeccably," he said.

"This throne speech really cemented Charles's role in Canada," added Robert Finch, chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada. "I've always said the real threat against the monarchy isn't republicanism per se but apathy. Well, after this week, there's a real sense of renewed interest in this institution."

He said republicans were counting on an unpopular King Charles to sever Canada's ties to the monarchy.

"I just don't think that's going to present itself now," Finch said. "There are certain moments in history that can make or break something and I think this particular tour, in some part due to the timing and the Trump factor, helped make King Charles's position in Canada secure and for that I'm very grateful."

WATCH | King Charles and Queen Camilla wrap up visit: 

Still, some chafed at the idea of Charles taking a stand for Canada in the face of Trump.

"We're telling Donald Trump, 'You're not the foreign billionaire who's our boss. This is the foreign billionaire who's our boss,'" said Pierre Vincent, a spokesperson for Citizens for a Canadian Republic.

'Exciting' and 'surreal' to meet King Charles

As short as King Charles's visit to Ottawa was this week, several Canadians did have a chance to meet briefly with him.

Sarah Vickery, director of programming at the King's Trust Canada, and Maxwell Evans, a member of the youth council at the King's Trust, say they found it reaffirming to speak with him about the work they are doing.

WATCH | Talking about the King's Trust with the King: 

Royally quotable

"It is with a sense of deep pride and pleasure that my wife and I join you here today, as we witness Canadians coming together in a renewed sense of national pride, unity, and hope."

— King Charles, opening the speech from the throne this week.

Royal reads 

Princess Anne met with medical staff who treated those injured when a car drove into crowds at a victory parade in Liverpool, England. [Daily Mail]

Princess Eugenie has said she "couldn't get out of bed or do anything for myself" while recovering after scoliosis surgery as a child. [BBC]

Wildlife rangers perform "one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet," Prince William said at the launch of a docuseries highlighting these "unseen, unheard and undervalued" heroes of the natural world. [The Guardian]

James Middleton has opened up about how his sister, Catherine, Princess of Wales, supported him through struggles with his mental health. [BBC]

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