As rain poured on the Coronation in London, where the prime minister and Governor General were in attendance, it was sunny and pleasant at the much, much smaller ceremony in Ottawa. The key feature of that event was four unveilings—new commemorative coins featuring the King’s cypher, the first stamp from Canada Post with King Charles III’s effigy, a new royal standard which was basically a more generic version of the old one, but which won’t be personalised for each monarch, and a new heraldic Canadian Crown, which will replace the current St. Edward’s Crown on things like coats of arms and military badges. We also finally got the news that the King will eventually replace his mother on coins and $20 banknotes, but the latter is likely years away.
https://twitter.com/TheCrownCa/status/1654883768522493954
https://twitter.com/TheCrownCa/status/1654912019798040579
https://twitter.com/Canadian_Crown/status/1654926551576608771
Today, members of the #CAF took part in a celebration of His Majesty King Charles III’s #coronation, in #Ottawa. The CAF wish to extend our congratulations to His Majesty King Charles III, our commander-in-chief, on this historic day.@TheCrownCa @CdnHeritage pic.twitter.com/cYYsKQkCpE
— Canadian Armed Forces (@CanadianForces) May 6, 2023
I did want to give a special shout out to Mary May Simon’s coronation dress, which was made by an Indigenous designer, and which featured her coat of arms embroidered along the front, which was amazing. (Thread below)
https://twitter.com/GGCanada/status/1654874274715279360
I'm pumped for the two-bit controversy about this four months from now, when somebody gets back the access to information request for their expenses and decides that the government overpaid for taking the flag to a dry cleaners or whatever. https://t.co/Or5Ac5u5X5
— James McLeod (@jamespmcleod) May 6, 2023
Ukraine Dispatch:
Russian Forces have launched another massive wave of missiles against Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and Odessa, while they have intensified shelling in Bakhmut in the hopes of overtaking it ahead of Tuesday, which is Victory Day in Russia. To that end, Wagner Group mercenaries are now saying they won’t pull out of Bakhmut as they had threatened earlier (but that threat may well have been empty). Ukrainian forces have shot down a Russian hypersonic missile using an American Patriot defence system, proving the technology in the field. Russian occupiers in Zaporizhzhia have been “evacuating” civilians away from the expected front-lines of the counter-offensive. And a prisoner exchange was held over the weekend that included 45 soldiers from the Azov battalion captured at Mariupol.
https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1654725483211239424
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1655150652522217473