A royal visit at a time of reckoning: Will Prince Charles and Camilla connect with Canadians?

Kyle Empringham doesn't follow the royals and wasn't initially aware there was a royal visit to Canada coming up this week.

Still, after he found out, the co-founder of The Starfish Canada, a group that supports young people in their environmental careers, saw potential for some "optimistic skepticism" about what might flow environmentally from the visit by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, that kicks off Tuesday in St. John's.

Environmental issues are on the agenda during the three-day trip, including when Charles meets with local experts to discuss the impact of climate change in the Northwest Territories, and Indigenous-led efforts to address it.

Empringham, who co-founded Starfish as a 20-year-old in 2010, said he was glad to hear that Charles is visiting the North, and that he would be engaging with Indigenous communities. 

"Then next thing I'd want to hear is … the actionable pieces; that it's not just a visit for a photo," Empringham said in an interview.

"I would be excited to hear that there are actionable items that are going to move forward, or maybe move forward quicker than what's comfortable. Those are the things that often we don't hear enough of."

What Prince Charles and Camilla say and do over the next three days will be under scrutiny, as the couple make their first visit to Canada in five years, carrying out the first official visit by a member of the Royal Family to the country since a greater societal reckoning with our past and our institutions has taken hold.

CBC readers have also told us they are interested in seeing how the royals will deal with current issues, such as Indigenous concerns, the environment and the relevance of the institution in the future — along with how Charles himself will handle all that.

Underlying this, however, is also the extent to which Canadians spend much time even thinking about the monarchy.

"Honestly, I don't think they give it much of a thought," said Nathan Tidridge, vice-president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada.

"At moments like a royal visit or the Platinum Jubilee, I think it kind of bubbles to the surface. But typically, it's kind of a perennial conversation: Do we need the institution?"

But Canadians may be thinking more about it this week, and as attention focuses in early June on the Platinum Jubilee, marking Queen Elizabeth's 70 years as monarch.

"It's these kinds of markers that happen that cause people to reflect," said Tidridge. 

"We're also at a very critical time, I think, in the world. We're talking about colonialism, we're talking about systemic racism, we're talking about all these really, really important issues and problems in our society. And the Crown, as that pre-eminent symbol, is implicated in them."