In an effort to foster Canadian identity, and knowing that George VI would assume the separate title "King of Canada" at his upcoming coronation, Buchan conceived in 1937 of a royal tour by the monarch, so that, through seeing "their king performing royal functions, supported by his Canadian ministers," Canadians might be made more aware of their country's status as an independent kingdom. Mackenzie King agreed with this notion, though also felt, along with officials in the United Kingdom, that the trip would have an element of public relations: the presence of the King and Queen, in both Canada and the United States, was calculated to shore up sympathy for Britain in anticipation of hostilities with Nazi Germany. Thus, the Prime Minister, while in London in May 1937 for the coronation, formally consulted with the King on the matter, and, more than a year later, George VI agreed, though officials in the Dominions Office in London resisted the idea of a separate role for George VI as king of Canada. On 17 May 1939, the King of Canada, accompanied by his royal consort, Queen Elizabeth, stepped off the Canadian Pacific liner RMS "Empress of Australia" at Wolfe's Cove, in Quebec City, and became the first reigning sovereign of Canada to set foot on Canadian soil.