Cost of King Charles’ Canada visit includes $870K for air force flyover, $330K for transportation

King Charles delivers the speech from the throne in the Senate in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canada’s Department of National Defence spent at least $1.28 million on King Charles III’s overnight trip to Ottawa in May, including nearly $870,000 for a ceremonial flyover by Royal Canadian Air Force fighter jets and more than $330,000 for transportation, including round-trip flights.

The Department of Canadian Heritage, which organized the roughly 24-hour visit, also spent at least $435,000, according to preliminary data obtained by CTVNews.ca. That brings the grand total to more than $1.7 million of taxpayer money. Additional costs, like those associated with Royal Canadian Mounted Police protection, have still not been released.

Charles visited Ottawa with Queen Camilla on May 26 and 27, his first trip to the country as King of Canada. In an apparent show of support for Canada’s sovereignty, Charles delivered a speech from the throne to open a new session of Parliament.

“The Crown has for so long been a symbol of unity for Canada,” Charles said during his May 27 speech. “It also represents stability and continuity from the past to the present. As it should, it stands proudly as a symbol of Canada today, in all her richness and dynamism.”

Costing $868,995.23, the ceremonial flyover included four of Canada’s CF-18 fighter jets and occurred as Charles and Camilla visited the National War Memorial.

Canada’s military spent an additional $330,462.33 on air and ground transportation, including roundtrip flights for His Majesty aboard a new Airbus CC-330 Husky aircraft, which is typically used by the prime minister for overseas travel. Other costs incurred by Canada’s Department of National Defence include $70,010.53 for 575 meals and 228 snack packs, as well as $14,373.15 for hotel rooms in both the U.K. and Ottawa.

The figures were acquired by Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval through what’s known as an order paper question, a procedural tool for lawmakers to get information from the government. The response provided to Barsalou-Duval shows that Canada’s Department of National Defence spent $1,284,064.05 on the trip and that additional costs may still be calculated.

In a written statement to CTVNews.ca, Barsalou-Duval described the monarchy as a “colonial, archaic institution.” The Bloc Québécois have long advocated for severing Canada’s ties with the British throne.

“The decision by Mark Carney’s Liberals to invite King Charles III was as expensive as it was pointless,” Barsalou-Duval said in French. “With a minimum of $1.3 million spent on defence alone, and the clock still ticking for the entire project, Quebecers have the right to question how their money is being managed in Ottawa, for a visit that only lasted a few hours.”

Through an access to information request, CTVNews.ca also acquired preliminary cost data from the Department of Canadian Heritage. Totalling $435,512, that includes expenses associated with a dry run rehearsal earlier in May, like $17,149 for premium economy flights and $3,648 for rooms at Ottawa’s elegant Lord Elgin hotel.

Other costs absorbed by Canadian Heritage include approximately $17,000 for travel, accommodation and per diems for Royal Household staff; more than $36,000 for ground transportation like bus, van and car rentals; roughly $5,300 for bleachers, and nearly $1,000 for tablecloths.

The total cost of the trip is expected to climb even higher once figures from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Public Safety Canada and others are released.

Canada’s Department of National Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Costs associated with the May 2025 Royal Visit covered by Canadian Heritage are still being finalized and are expected to be available in early fall,” a Canadian Heritage spokesperson told CTVNews.ca.

According to an RCMP spokesperson, “the costs associated with King Charles’ visit in May of 2025 are still being accumulated and pending finalization.”

Charles was invited to Canada by Prime Minister Mark Carney, who served as the governor of the Bank of England between 2013 and 2020. Canada is a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch as its ceremonial head of state, represented by the Governor General.

Not long before he ascended the throne, Charles’ three-day visit to Canada in May 2022 cost at least $1.4 million, according to a previous CTVNews.ca investigation. Such figures do not include normal operating costs or government, military and police salaries, which would make the true bill much higher.

“This is the nature of being a monarchy,” royal commentator Richard Berthelsen previously told CTV News. “You have a royal family that are going to travel, and they are going to do so at the expense of the government.”