In all the pageantry and ceremony surrounding the coronation of King Charles III, I doubt the British people have paid much attention to his relationship with the colonies. Which doesn’t mean there has been no discussion of the monarchy in those colonies.

Canada had strong ties to Queen Elizabeth II as the only Queen most of us have ever known. Seventy years is a long time to reign. Many people have expressed ambivalence about the new King, with some suggesting that now is a good time to cut ties with the monarchy completely.

That debate was definitely nowhere to be found in an exhibit showing Charles’ ties to Canada that I saw earlier this month at the Canadian High Commission in London. The photo exhibit shows Charles on various visits to Canada over about a 50-year period.

You access the exhibit not through the main entrance on Trafalgar Square but through a side door. I would have missed it completely if I hadn’t chosen to walk to Trafalgar Square instead of taking the Tube. Admission was free.

The exhibit is obviously not a priority. There is no mention of it on the High Commission’s website. It has the feel of something thrown hastily together, as series of photographs to show the connection between King and country, to show the British public that Canada was celebrating the coronation too.

I didn’t take a picture of each photo, but these will give you the flavor of the exhibit. It was only as I write this that I realized that I don’t remember seeing any pictures of the 1983 Royal Visit when Charles was accompanied by Diana, Princess of Wales. I wonder if I missed that, or whether the decision to leave those pictures out was done out of political correctness.

I wonder if I should send an email to ask? Or is that a can of worms no-one wants to open?