A royal visit revisited: Mackenzie King and the British royal visit to the USA, June 1939

Abstract

In June 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were on a tour of Canada that included a brief visit to the United States. The timing of this visit proved to be fortuitous from the British point of view as it came soon after the controversial Munich agreement in September 1938, which ceded the Czech Sudetenland to Germany, and the subsequent occupation of the remainder of the Czech state by German troops in March 1939 – both of which had damaged Britain’s image in America. The royal visit to the USA was a great public-relations success, as was the visit to Canada, and its significance for relations between Britain, Canada, and the United States has been discussed by a number of historians from all three countries. However, very little attention has been paid to the key role of the Canadian prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, regarding the American phase of the royal visit. Indeed, a recent film about the Royal Visit and the weekend spent by the king and queen at President Franklin Roosevelt’s family home in upstate New York omitted any mention of Mackenzie King, despite the fact that he was their official escort. This article seeks to fill this gap by assessing Mackenzie King’s involvement in the origins and conduct of the royal visit. It also reflects upon what the royal visit reveals about Canada’s relations with Britain and the United States on the eve of the war and, in particular, Mackenzie King’s relationship with President Franklin Roosevelt and his contribution to the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’.