Located in Kingston, Ontario, is the military academy of the Canadian Forces.

RMC, established by an act of the Canadian Parliament in 1874 "for the purpose of providing a complete education in all branches of military tactics, fortification, engineering, and general scientific knowledge in subjects connected with and necessary to thorough knowledge of the military profession." On June 1, 1876, the Military College of Canada opened its doors to the first class of eighteen cadets. The names of these "Old Eighteen" are memorized by all cadets today. In 1878, Queen Victoria, granted the college the right to use the prefix "Royal." The college motto is "Truth, Duty, Valour".

In 1942 RMC held a final parade as the college facilities were used for other purposes than Cadet Training. In 1948 RMC reopened with the "New One Hundred" cadets. The first "Lady Cadets" entered RMC in 1980 graduating in 1984.

Following World War II, the Canadian Military Colleges Circle (CMC) was formed with RMC, Le Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMR) and the Royal Roads Military College (RRMC). CMC was established to train officers of the three services of the Canadian Forces. In 1995, following the end of the Cold War, the Department of National Defence closed CMR and RRMC. CMR is now part of ASU Saint-Jean and the government of British Columbia rents installations of RRMC from DND to run Royal Roads University. The RRMC campus was the set for Xavier's School for Gifted Children in the movie X2.

The province of Ontario granted a university charter to RMC by passing "The Royal Military College of Canada Degrees Act" in 1959 enabling RMC to offer degrees in Arts, Science, and Engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Today, courses are offered both on site and by distance learning in both official languages: English and French.
There are approximately 1000 undergraduate students and 250 graduate students on campus. The Division of Continuing Studies, formed in 1996, now serves more than 3,000 additional students around the World. It offers more than 100 distance learning courses, many of them web-enabled. In addition to traditional university education, the Division of Continuing Studies also delivers the Officer Professional Military Education (OPME) programme to members of the Canadian Forces.

RMC is located on Point Frederick, a small peninsula at the point where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario and where the Rideau Canal System starts. The location has been an active military base since 1789 and was an important naval base during the War of 1812. Additional military fortifications near by are Fort Frontenac, originally established in 1673 across the Rideau River from Point Frederick and Ft Henry, constructed between 1832-36.

The RMC Flag is reputed to have been the inspiration for Dr. George Stanley, who was the Dean of Arts at RMC, in his design for the new Canadian Flag which was adopted in 1965.

The school is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the RMC Paladins, formerly known as the RMC Redmen. RMC plays the United States Military Academy (Army) Black Knights, in the annual West Point Weekend hockey game. This series, conceived in 1923, is billed as the longest running continuous international series in the world. Currently Army leads the Series 39-29-6.