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Poor Lord Moran, having to put up with us “moderate, comfortable” Canadians. But the former British high commissioner to Canada did get one thing right in his 1984 farewell letter, made public this week: We smart at British sneers about being “boring.”

Early in my time as Canada's high commissioner in London, a Sunday Times writer interviewed Margaret Atwood, who had won the Booker Prize, and wrote: “Having met her, I can report she is that precious specimen – an interesting Canadian.”

I asked Adrienne Clarkson, then governor-general, how to jolt the British from their condescending cloud of ignorance about Canada. “Do the unexpected,” she said. “They may notice.”

I'm not sure they could lift their fond gaze on the U.S. enough to notice Canada, though John Wilson, the second Baron of Moran, concedes that Pierre Trudeau was noticed, if overrated.

My own exit letter in 2002 described Tony Blair's obsessive campaign to be “best friend” to George W. Bush. I thought Mr. Blair hoped he could use it to counter the extreme tendencies of what a Whitehall official described as “this unpleasant administration.”

I recalled the 1944 ditty during the Bretton Woods deliberations on a postwar monetary system: “In Washington, Lord Halifax whispered to Maynard Keynes, It's true they have all the money bags, but we have all the brains.” That self-concept endures.

I predicted that Mr. Bush would let Mr. Blair down by pushing for an invasion of Iraq that the British couldn't support without straightforward evidence that Iraq was a clear and present danger. I sure didn't expect that Mr. Blair would be selective with the “evidence.”

British authorities haven't released Lord Moran's observations about Canada and the monarchy, but I'm pleased to pass on the gist of mine on this touchy topic. Being force-fed exposure to the pervasive sense of entitlement and unreality displayed by the various British palaces and their principals is bound to raise some questions in one's mind by the time one leaves.

One respects Canadians living far from the palaces who believe in a higher dignity conferred by a non-political, semi-ethereal monarchical institution lifting us above the conflicts, ambitions and dissents of everyday local life (to which Lord Moran added the “poor quality of Canadian politicians.”) They speak from honourable affection, but I can't help thinking of the sausage-lover who has never seen an abattoir.

After 9/11, the Metropolitan Police warned that there would be bombs on the Underground. For sure. The biggest shock when it happened so dreadfully on July 7, 2005, was over who had done it – British boys from Leeds. Since then, Britain's intelligent response to the challenges of diversity has been ramped up along with its respect for Canada's experience, in contrast to Lord Moran's dismay over our immigration patterns.

I laughed at his contempt for our artists and others who are vaulted to celebrity despite only “moderate” talent. The poor man predated Britain's suffocating celebrity culture of Spice Girls and reality shows.

I never sympathized with British condescension to Europe. Euroskepticism seemed an island's denial of reality – Europe is where the Brits earn their living. Mr. Blair used to say he wouldn't be forced to “choose between Europe and America.” He would have both. Because of Iraq, he is now fatally distrusted by Europeans – a pity, because Europe needs some bigger political fish.

When I was leaving London to be ambassador to the European Union, a worried Whitehall chap asked me with deep concern, “Tell us, High Commissioner. In Ottawa, is this considered a promotion?”

“Vast,” I replied, “Vast.” I was kidding, but, like Lord Moran, it felt good to tease the hosts. Except I'm not sure he was teasing. Oh, well. They shouldn't have made his archaic farewell letter public.

Jeremy Kinsman, Canada's high commissioner in London from 2000-02, is chancellor's lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.