RECAP | King Charles, Queen Camilla greeted by sun and warm crowds in Ottawa on 1st day of royal tour

We're wrapping up our live updates for the day, but we'll be back for more coverage of the royal visit tomorrow.

As my colleague Cat Tunney said, Charles will be delivering the speech from the throne to open the 45th session of Parliament. It's this visit's main purpose and event, and is expected to symbolize Canada's shared history with the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and not the United States, for example).

The King and Queen will be departing back to London shortly after.

The pair had a packed afternoon in Ottawa today after landing just after 1 p.m. They headed to Lansdowne Park where a crowd of hundreds awaited them. They met with food vendors and Charles dropped the puck in a street hockey demonstration.

After that, they went to Rideau Hall where people awaiting them spontaneously burst into song, belting out God save the King and a rendition of O Canada.

The King held private audiences with the prime minister, governor general and Indigenous leaders. Camilla was sworn in as a member of the King's Privy Council of Canada — the body that advises the King on issues of importance to the country.

For more details you can scroll down or read our Parliamentary Bureau's coverage here.

Cheerio!

Schedule update: Charles held audiences with the leaders of the three main Indigenous organizations in Canada: Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy WoodhouseNepinak; Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; and Victoria Pruden, Métis National Council president.

These were added to the official itinerary.

Charles has spoken in the past about reconciliation in Canada and the Crown’s role in that process.

“We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past, acknowledging, reconciling and striving to do better,” he said during his last trip to Canada as Prince of Wales.

Other Indigenous leaders held a news conference earlier in Ottawa where they called on the King to respect his treaty partners.

As King Charles winds down his official meetings (he is on Greenwich mean time after all), thoughts turn to tomorrow’s historic day when he will deliver the throne speech.

The last time a monarch did that was in 1977, by Queen Elizabeth II.

A throne speech, usually read by the Governor General acting as the King’s representative, opens a new session of Parliament and sets out the government’s priorities.

The King’s physical presence is no coincidence as Carney leans into a renewed sense of national unity amid economic attacks from the United States. Charles reading the speech is meant to underscore Canada's identity and relationship with the U.K., and draw a contrast to the U.S.

As Canada’s head of state, Charles is not one to publicly wade into political issues. But he does have the opportunity to deliver his own message tomorrow. It’s a moment many Canadians may want to lean in to hear.

Of course, not everyone is enthusiastic about the royal visit. Members of the Bloc Québécois, for example, are skipping out on the speech and are trying to make the oath of allegiance to the King optional.

King Charles is ending the day with private audiences, including with Gov. Gen Mary Simon and and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Philippe Lagassé, an associate professor and Barton Chair at Carleton University in Ottawa, said it’s an opportunity for Charles to be “very candid” and express “what he’s really feeling.”

It’s “something he obviously can't do in a public setting,” said Lagassé, an expert in how the Crown and the Canadian Parliamentary system work.

“The prime minister is obviously not going to share that information.”

Carney requested the King visit and deliver tomorrow’s speech from the throne at a moment when Canada is trying to underscore its sovereignty.

Lagassé said he isn’t sure whether Trump, the source of those concerns, will pay much attention.

Charles and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon just met briefly in front of cameras inside a well-appointed room at Rideau Hall. Details of their short exchange were hard to make out, but Simon could be heard saying, "Canadians are very happy" and "welcome home."

The King appeared to respond with, "It's very kind."

The pair then sat down on two silver chairs in front of a fireplace, smiled, exchanged a couple pleasanteries, then got up again and left.

The moment is sometimes called a "photo spray," where officials essentially stage a meeting for photographers and TV cameras.

Camilla is expected to be sworn in as a member of the King’s Privy Council in Canada shortly.

Charles and Camilla are being greeted by hundreds of well-wishers here at Rideau Hall to see the tree-planting ceremony — a crowd that, to my eyes, is considerably larger than what greeted him in 2022 when he was here last to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Some of the people assembled here mobbed the King after he was done with the tree — rushing to shake his hand or grab a selfie with him and Camilla.

There were a couple cries of “Thank you for coming, sir!” and “It’s an honour to meet you, your majesty” from the people on hand. Unlike in 2022, the current prime minister, Mark Carney, is by the King’s side at every turn.

I’m Ashley Burke, a senior reporter with CBC’s Parliamentary Bureau, covering the King’s visit from Lansdowne Park.

We were standing behind a group of veterans with The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Association who met the King, Queen and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

One of the veterans told Carney he has a lot of work ahead of him.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s going in the right direction,” Carney responded. “We’ve got the right plan.”

I asked Carney what message he’s sending to U.S. President Donald Trump today. When he didn’t respond, I asked what his message was today.

“It’s a good day for Canada,” Carney said.

One of the veterans observed, “it’s not raining.”

“It’s not raining, the sun is shining, the future is bright,” said Carney. “The land is strong.”

The ceremonial tree planting by King Charles and Queen Camilla is the latest moment in a time-honoured royal tradition.

But as Charles gently spread the dirt, and Camilla followed up with a watering can, the new blue beech they nurtured became more than just another addition to the natural landscape at Rideau Hall.

According to the Governor-General’s website, Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, and members of the Royal Family have planted 17 commemorative trees since 1939.

Charles himself has already planted four trees at Rideau Hall during visits as Prince of Wales — in 1971, 1983, 2009 and 2017.

Royal historian Justin Vovk of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., sees a broader significance to the planting at this time, particularly in how a tree can represent a natural resource that is critical in Canada.

“There has been so much talk the last four months about Canada's resources vis-a-vis the United States, the 51st state, all of that rhetoric,” Vovk told me. “So the planting of a tree does take on added symbolism.”

A fairly large crowd has gathered at Rideau Hall to try and meet Charles and Camilla, even as the rain starts to come down.

They burst out into a loud and spontaneous rendition of God Save the King.

While not all Canadians love the monarchy, Charles has been met with friendly and large crowds so far today.

From the moment Charles became King in 2022, it’s been noted how open and eager he is to have the opportunity to meet with members of the public.

The cellphone-waving crowd at Lansdowne Park has given him a chance to do that in Canada.

“It’s a really large and enthusiastic crowd,” Harris told Adrienne Arsenault.

There had been some concerns ahead of the visit, Harris noted. Given there hadn’t been a high-profile royal visit for a while, what happens if, for example, the weather isn’t great and people don’t necessarily show up in numbers?

But the weather was on the organizers’ side. People were cheering and waving as Charles and Camilla made their way around to meet the Canadians invited to be part of the event.

“You can see the King and Queen responding to the energy of the crowd,” Harris said.

“They’re smiling. They’re shaking hands. They’re clearly very happy to be here.”