Welcome Royals, but pay your bills

In a country accustomed to welcoming several hundred thousand newcomers a year, the news that Britain’s Prince Harry and wife Meghan could spend part of each year in Canada was strangely stunning.

Yes, Canada is proud to take in people from every part of this world, lots of them, too. And yes, Prince Harry’s grandmother, Elizabeth, is Canada’s head of state. As Her Highness has served this country well, so might this country in return do all it can for Harry and his young family.

Yet while many Canadians found the prospect of these photogenic global celebrities settling here either tickling or tantalizing, others resented it as flotsam from our colonial past washing up on our shores.

Then there was the tricky issue never far from the minds of our more frugal citizenry: Who would pay the royal couple’s bills when they’re here?

What makes the situation so puzzling and challenging is the fact that something exactly like this has never happened before. The monarchs of Canada have always resided in the United Kingdom. They come here for brief visits, then cross back over the pond.

It’s true that Princess Louise, a daughter of Queen Victoria, lived in Canada for five years in the late 19th century as the wife of a governor general. But she was here in an official capacity. And Edward, Prince of Wales, owned a ranch in Alberta which he occasionally visited in the early 20th century. But all that was long ago in a different Canada.

We’ve never had a member of the Royal Family, the child of a reigning monarch, who might want to spend half of every year, perhaps indefinitely, living here. We do now.

Whatever questions remain unanswered, however, the way to respond is as Canadians. We should welcome the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their infant son, Archie.

As newcomers inclined to charitable works, they could have much to contribute.

We see no legal impediment for them trying to live here. They should, of course, have to meet the same residency requirements as anyone else.

But as they currently enjoy no official status in this country, they should be accorded no special privileges. Elizabeth may be Queen of Canada. There is no corresponding Prince of Canada.

Most immediately, this means Canadian taxpayers should not cover any of the considerable costs of providing round-the-clock security for the couple — it could be in the millions of dollars a year — while they reside here.

Either the British government or the Royal Family itself should foot these and any other bills requiring attention. Both have ample resources.

To say this isn’t being cruel or parsimonious. It’s merely asserting that in this country, which has no aristocracy and prizes social equality, the Sussexes should be treated like anyone else wishing to reside here.

As of Saturday, we know that Harry and Meghan will step away from royal duties as of this spring, no longer use their HRH titles and forgo any public money from British taxpayers.

Perhaps the British government will assign them a new role here. Perhaps the Canadian government will find them a job. But that would require an entirely new discussion and surely offend at least some Canadians who would object to any privilege-based hiring.

So for now, at least, Canadians should enjoy a novel situation that is at least offers a welcome diversion from the planet’s real crises.

And federal officials should keep their chequebooks in their pockets.