Before astronaut Jeremy Hansen gets a chance to wear Canada’s colours on a flight around the moon next year, he will carry the Canadian flag at the coronation of the country’s new King.
The Prime Minister’s Office released a list of dignitaries and eminent Canadians who will join Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at Westminster Abbey this weekend as King Charles is officially crowned.
The list includes Indigenous and youth leaders, astronaut Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons, historian Margaret MacMillan and Cross of Valour recipient Leslie Arthur Palmer.
Simon’s itinerary for the trip includes an audience with the King on Thursday at Buckingham Palace, where they will be joined by the leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Metis National Council.
The King was officially proclaimed Canada’s monarch in a ceremony in September in Ottawa attended by both Trudeau and Simon.
The prime minister and Governor General also attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year with two former governors general and four former prime ministers.