{"id":584826,"date":"2026-04-06T00:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584826\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T00:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:52:08","slug":"trump-raises-canadian-annexation-in-british-authors-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584826\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump raises Canadian annexation in British author\u2019s book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office, March 31.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In public, Donald Trump<\/a> still refers to Canada\u2019s Prime Minister as \u201cgovernor.\u201d But in private, he acknowledges that Canadian annexation is beyond his reach, according to a royal biographer who dined at Mar-a-Lago with the U.S. President.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s not going to happen!\u201d Mr. Trump, an open admirer of the British monarchy, told Robert Hardman in a conversation earlier this year. <\/p>\n

The comments appear in Elizabeth II. In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, Mr. Hardman\u2019s sixth book on the monarchy. Mr. Trump was the last state visitor to Queen Elizabeth II, capping a reign in which she met scores of national leaders. <\/p>\n

Mr. Trump cited the long arc of Canadian sovereignty and this country\u2019s continued ties to King Charles as reasons for Canada to hold on to its independence. Instead, the President described his repeated annexation threats as the result of personal pique.<\/p>\n

A U.S. invasion of Canada is still far-fetched. Canadians are preparing anyway<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada has \u201cthese terrible politicians. They\u2019re nice to my face and then they say bad things behind my back,\u201d he said, according to the new book, which is due to be released in Canada next month. <\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has shown a long-standing affection for the monarchy, one partly grounded in his own family history, Mr. Hardman said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we always have to remember is he is half British, and his mother was a MacLeod from the Isle of Lewis, who was a great fan of the late Queen herself. And I think that\u2019s part of his heritage,\u201d Mr. Hardman said. <\/p>\n

Mary Anne MacLeod Trump was born in the village of Tong in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and grew up speaking Scottish Gaelic before immigrating to the U.S. in her teens. <\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II maintained deep ties with Scotland; she died in Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump fashioned a \u201cgenuine connection with the late Queen,\u201d said Mr. Hardman, who in his book recounts the President\u2019s efforts to draw her into telling him which occupant of the White House she liked best. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kept asking her: \u2018Who was your favourite president? Was it Reagan? Or Eisenhower?\u2019 and she just said: \u2018They were all very nice.\u2019 That sort of thing,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n

His attempts to discern her favourite British prime minister were equally unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I realized: That\u2019s why she lasted 70 years without a complaint \u2013 because she was so good at it. The rest of us would have said: \u2018Oh, I liked so-and-so.\u2019 But she was so clever,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know she liked me because we talked a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: Trump is obsessed with Canada \u2013 and our rebuke of his advances is growing more dangerous<\/a><\/p>\n

The Queen\u2019s passing did little to dampen Mr. Trump\u2019s enthusiasm for the monarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s as fulsome about the King as he was about the Queen,\u201d said Mr. Hardman, who argues that the Royal Family\u2019s influence on the President counts in favour of its value in modern times.<\/p>\n

In January, after Mr. Trump offended American allies by saying they had \u201cstayed a little back, a little off the front lines\u201d in Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanded an apology for remarks he called \u201cinsulting\u201d and \u201cappalling.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump criticized for downplaying NATO allies\u2019 role in Afghan war<\/a><\/p>\n

But it was only after \u201croyal concerns\u201d were sent the President\u2019s way, Mr. Hardman wrote, that Mr. Trump called British forces \u201csecond to none,\u201d writing on social media that their \u201cGREAT and very BRAVE soldiers\u201d will \u201calways be with the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is in part that royal connection, he adds, that has given Mr. Trump personal pause over his desire to annex his Commonwealth neighbour to the north. Charles is, after all, King of Canada, and travelled to Ottawa last year to open Parliament.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hardman recounts telling Mr. Trump that any move toward annexation of Canada would displease the King.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo they still recognize the King? Or have they stopped that?\u201d Mr. Trump responded. <\/p>\n

He grumbled about the historical treaties that established the 49th parallel as the border, arguing that cold weather had caused Canadians to cluster close to that frontier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is some guy drew that straight line to make a border. He should just have drawn it 50 miles further north and then there wouldn\u2019t be a problem,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n

Still, he went on to acknowledge the durability of that very border.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose the Canadians have got 200 years of history and all that \u2019Oh, Canada\u2019 thing,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t deal with that in 3\u00bd years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing an executive order in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,75,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-584826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-entertainment","25":"tag-environment","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}