HOW HARRY COULD BECOME THE NEXT GG
Amid reports that Julie Payette is not tremendously enthused over being governor general (she apparently plans to skip the Governor General’s History Awards), it might be worth it for the federal government to start lining up a backup. In the interest of feeding wild speculation, the National Post’s Tristin Hopper presents this case for why the job could be filled by the Queen’s most red-headed of grandsons. THE RULES ARE PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD
Four months ago, the Post published a story about how Prince Harry could technically become Canada’s sovereign tomorrow without even needing to Richard III-ize a bunch of his relatives. The story contained a lot of loopholes and caveats, but no legal gymnastics of any kind are needed to appoint Harry as our governor general. The Governor General’s Act has all kinds of information on what a governor general does, but nothing about who is eligible to do it. It could technically be anybody, and Justin Trudeau need only to ask the Queen to put her grandson in the post.
IT WOULDN’T BE ALL THAT UNPRECEDENTED
Rideau Hall’s official website says that all governors general “must be Canadian citizens.” However, according to Carleton University Westminster expert Philippe Lagasse, there’s no “legal justification for that claim.” Until the 1952 appointment of Vincent Massey, in fact, the job was reserved exclusively for British lords, earls, viscounts, dukes and even Queen Victoria’s son-in-law. The Stanley Cup, top photo, gets its name from governor general Lord Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby. The Grey Cup, bottom photo, was donated by Canada’s ninth governor general, the fourth Earl Grey. One of the first women to appear on a Canadian banknote was Princess Patricia, the daughter of the Duke of Connaught, a governor general during the First World War. (Patricia also got a particularly good regiment named after her.) Prince Harry would be one of the highestranked blue blood to occupy Rideau Hall, (the Duke of Connaught was
higher). And unlike a lot of our other sent-from-London governors general, Harry’s wife wouldn’t absolutely hate Canada. In fact, she just snuck back for a visit.
HARRY IS USED TO THIS KIND OF THING
One of the chief pitfalls of the job is that it takes smart, ambitious Canadians and essentially imprisons them in a palace with strict instructions to do what they’re told. Julie Payette has literally been shot into space, and now she is expected to nod politely at foreign dignitaries and pretend to care about proper curtsying. Even in the best of circumstances, it’s common for newly minted governors general to struggle with the confines of the job and the need to remain non-partisan. But Harry has lived his whole life in a bubble of security and privilege where even the slightest partisan nod could yield a week’s worth of Daily Mail headlines. If there’s anyone who knows how to be clothed in immense power that they never, ever use, it’s the House of Windsor.
AUSTRALIA ONCE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED MAKING HARRY’S DAD THEIR GG
Australia had way more serious governor general problems in the 1970s. In 1975 governor general Sir John Kerr fired the prime minister of a majority government on Remembrance Day, and for the rest of his term when he wasn’t being booed in public he was drunk. To restore some dignity to the office, Australia approached Prince Charles, then still a single, handsome Royal Navy pilot. Charles reportedly liked the idea of getting some king-like experience, and the appointment could have changed history had it resulted in Charles meeting and marrying a fetching Australian rather than Diana Spencer. The idea didn’t fully fizzle out until the late 1980s, when by then a rising anti-monarchist sentiment had made the plan unworkable. In 1994 when asked his reaction to Australia mulling becoming a republic, Charles replied, “Well, put it this way, I’m not going to run around in small circles, tear my hair out, boohoo and throw a fit on the floor, as if somehow, like a spoiled child, your toy’s been taken away.”