OTTAWA, Canada – Canada's new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, will make a stopover in London to meet with Queen Elizabeth II while en route to Malta for Commonwealth talks, his office said Thursday, November 12.
"I am absolutely delighted that Her Majesty has graciously agreed to this meeting," Trudeau said in a statement.
"In her role as queen of Canada, she has not only witnessed but also been an active participant in the evolution of our country over the past sixty-three years," he said. "Her Majesty will remain an integral part of our country's progress and future."
Their meeting at Buckingham Palace is scheduled for November 25. Trudeau will then travel to Malta for a Commonwealth heads of government meeting on November 27 to 29, and then to Paris for climate talks.
Earlier this month, the new Liberal government removed the queen's portrait from its foreign affairs department lobby, and put up two historic paintings by a Quebec artist in its place.
The two paintings had been removed by the previous Tory government, which leaned more heavily toward monarchist symbolism, just before a June 2011 visit by Prince William and his wife Catherine.
The switchback was to "showcase Canada, our art and our culture" in government offices and embassies, the ministry said in a statement Monday.
Trudeau's father, late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, during a 1977 visit to Buckingham Palace was caught by a photographer doing a pirouette behind the queen.
It was widely believed to have been a spontaneous display by a maverick leader, but an aide later revealed that it had been planned and even rehearsed, and was done in protest of palace protocols. – Rappler.com