Category: Newfoundland

The Royal St. John's Regatta

8/9/2023

Photo Credit: Ken Eckert

The Royal St. John's Regatta is North America's oldest annual
sporting competition. It also has had interesting ties to the
monarchy since its earliest days.

1818

The earliest records for the event date from 1816 but there is
credible conjecture that the event was held earlier. Ship crews
would often compete against each other in rowing
competitions as a form of entertainment. It is from these
informal matches that the regatta originated.

The 1818 regatta was more put together affair. It was held on
September 22nd to coincide with the 57th anniversary of King
George III's coronation. It is from this date that the organizers
of the regatta mark their anniversary with the regatta
celebrating its 200 year anniversary in 2018.

Since 1818, there was a tradition
of using coronation anniversaries
to set the date of the regatta as
this pictured betting slip from
1937 attests.

Royal Visits

The Queen talking to a rower.

Members of the Royal Family who
have attended the regatta include
Prince Albert Edward (later King
Edward VII) in 1860 and Queen
Elizabeth II in 1978. In 2016
Princess Anne visited St. John's to
unveil the championship rings to
be given out in 2018.

Royal Patronage

In 1993 the regatta was given its royal
designation through the efforts of Don
Johnson, Frederick Russel, and Geoff
Carnell. As a result a new crest was
developed incorporating Saint Edward's
Crown above a fixed-seat row boat. The
Royal St. John's Regatta is one of only
four organizations in Newfoundland to
have a royal designation.

The regatta also has a coat of arms which can be seen here.

When to Visit

The Royal St. John's Regatta is held on the first Wednesday
of August, weather permitting. It is a civic holiday in the city
of St. John's but is unique in that the day off is entirely
dependent on whether the weather is suitable for rowing or
not. If called off the regatta will be held on the next suitable
day.

Besides the rowing there are many food stalls and games of
chance along the shoreline as well as live music provided by
the Church Lads Brigade Regimental Band which gives the
event a festival atmosphere. Hope to see you there.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Royal Tours Explained

3/21/2016

William & Kate during the 2011 Royal Tour

Royal tours are one of the
times when the monarchy is
most visible to Canadians. The
purposes of the royal tour, or
homecomings, are not always
that well understood by
Canadians.

Members of the Royal Family
have been living, working, &
visiting Canada since 1786. Early royal tours were made by
princes (and princesses) since the long sea voyage made it
unfeasible for the sovereign to both rule and visit their
overseas territories. The tours were meant to be a chance for
the people to see their royal family and for said royals to gain
experience in military and civil administration.

Sketch of King William IV

In many ways the American
Revolution had as much of a
hand in creating Canada as it
did the United States. How
fitting that the first royal tour
occurred at roughly the same
time.

Prince William (later King
William IV) was given
command of the HMS
Pegasus in 1786. He traveled
to Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, and the Province of
Canada. The tour lasted
about a year.

In Placentia, Newfoundland Prince William had to break up a
riot on one occasion and hear a court case on another. As the
colonies largely lacked a permanent administration it was not
entirely uncommon for senior naval officers to take on such
duties. On two occasions Prince William led church services
attended by both Protestants and a few Catholics. He would
go on to finance the building of a church for the community.

He eventually proceeded to Halifax and to the Province of
Canada. The Prince traveled inland to modern-day Cornwall,
Ontario. There he encouraged the Loyalists building new lives
for themselves in the wilderness. He also met with First
Nations living around Montreal and was greeted with great
excitement.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

Prince William stayed in Canada
for only a short time but his
brother, Prince Edward, would
end up spending nine years in the
growing colonies. I have already
detailed Prince Edward's time in
another post so I will move on.

Both brothers saw to the positive
development of Canada and
began a tradition that continues
to this day.

The royal tours undertaken in the 1800s were for the most
part shorter in length with the exception of Princess Louise,
who served for five years as the vice-regal couple with her
husband from 1878 to 1883.

The 1900s brought an increase in the number of royal tours as
transportation across the Atlantic became faster. Tours also
tended to include more parts of Canada. Princess Patricia
would spend six years in Canada and become immensely
popular with Canadians. It was still only princes and
princesses undertaking royal tours until 1957 when Queen
Elizabeth II became the first reigning sovereign to visit Canada and open a session of the Canadian Parliament.

Tours have increasingly become centered around specific
themes. For instance the 2005 royal tour was organized as a
chance for Her Majesty and all other Canadians to honour
"The Spirit of Nation Builders."

Besides royal tours you also have 'working visits' that have
less of the pomp and circumstance and generally involve a
member of the Canadian Royal Family carrying out some of
their less public duties. The charity work of the Princess Royal
and Prince Harry's military training in Alberta being
examples. In a sense the working visits undertaken by
members of the Royal Family more resemble the royal tours
of the past while visits by the reigning monarch have become
a form of 'patriotic festival'.

Souvenir coffee can from 2002 Royal Tour

Back of can showing downtown Sussex, NB

Royal tours are a chance for the people and their monarch to
come together in celebration of Canada. As the personal face
of what would otherwise be the distant entity, the state, the
monarch serves to humanize it. By bringing attention to
communities that might not always be on the government
radar royal tours stress the importance of all peoples and
regions of our fair dominion.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The Monarchs of Canada: A Timeline

11/25/2014

Monarchs have ruled Canada since before Canada was a recognizable entity. This article is an overview of Canada's monarchs which is, as I will explain in a second, by necessity incomplete. Note that below if both the king and the queen are listed it means they ruled as co-sovereigns. Also note that I am defining 'Canada' as the geographic area of the current country. Finally, note that I have used the dates for the reign of each monarch rather than birth-death.

Pre-Contact North America

It is often overlooked that many of the aboriginal tribes that inhabit Canada at one time had hereditary chiefs. In fact some still do on a formal or informal basis. However, with 600+ recognized nations and fragmentary records from pre-contact civilizations it is nearly impossible to include a complete overview of native kingship in the context of this article. In the future I will attempt an article outlining a history of Canada's hereditary chiefs. Sufficed to say at present that hereditary and elected kingship has a long history in Canada.

Our French Monarchs (1534-1763)

The French Crown ruled over the parts of Canada now comprising of the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, & Nova Scotia. Two French dynasties ruled Canada before the colony was ceded to the British in 1763.

Francis I (1534–1547)
House of Valois

Henry II (1547–1559)
House of Valois

Francis II (1559–1560)
House of Valois

Charles IX (1560–1574)
House of Valois

Henry III (1574–1589)
House of Valois

Henry IV (1589–1610)
House of Bourbon

Louis XIII (1610–1643)
House of Bourbon

Louis XIV (1643–1715)
House of Bourbon

Louis XV (1715–1763)
House of Bourbon

Our English/British Monarchs (1497-1931)

The English Crown ruled parts of what would become the provinces of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and northern Ontario. It would gain areas ruled by the French Crown in 1763.

Until 1707 it is correct to refer to the English Crown. After March 6th of that year England and Scotland united into a single kingdom called Great Britain.

Henry VII (1497–1509)
House of Tudor

Henry VIII (1409–1547)
House of Tudor

Edward VI (1547–1553)
House of Tudor

Mary I
(1553–1558)
House of Tudor

Philip II of Spain
(Co-sovereign)
House of Habsburg

Elizabeth I (1558–1603)
House of Tudor

James I (1603–1625)
House of Stuart

Charles I (1625–1649)
House of Stuart

Charles II (1670–1685)
House of Stuart

James II (1685–1688)
House of Stuart

William III
(1650–1702)
House of Orange-Nassau

Mary II of England (Co-sovereign)
House of Stuart

Anne (1702–1714)
House of Stuart

-Kingdom of Great Britain established, 1707

George I (1714–1727)
House of Hanover

George II (1727–1760)
House of Hanover

George III (1760–1820)
House of Hanover

George IV (1820–1830)
House of Hanover

William IV (1830–1837)
House of Hanover

Victoria (1837–1901)
House of Hanover

-Dominion of Canada established, 1867

Edward VII (1901–1910)
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

George V (1910–1931 as British sovereign)
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Our Canadian Monarchs (1931-Present)

The Canadian Crown became separate from the British Crown in 1931 due to the Statute of Westminster. More than 3/4th of the intervening period has been reigned over by a single sovereign.

George V (1931–1936 as Canadian sovereign)
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917)
House of Windsor (after 1917)

Edward VIII (1936)
House of Windsor

George VI (1936–1952)
House of Windsor

Elizabeth II (1952-Present)
House of Windsor

Well I hope you enjoyed this timeline as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Monarchist Profile: Sir David Kirke

5/28/2014

Sir David Kirke was born in Dieppe, France in 1597 to an English father and a French mother. Kirke is an interesting character in Canadian history not least because of his daring plan to rescue King Charles I from execution.

In 1627 some London merchants formed a company with the intent to trade and found settlements along the St. Lawrence River. When war broke out later that same year between England and France (as tended to happen in those days) the company financed an expedition to the New World under Kirke in order to drive out the French. Accompanied by his brothers he set out with three ships. The campaign went well with a quick capture of Tadoussac as well as a supply ship headed for Quebec. Kirke had surrender conditions delivered to Champlain (then in charge of the outpost). Champlain, confident in the settlement's defences and expecting supplies from France, refused to surrender. Kirke for his part decided not to attack the well-armed outpost. However, Champlain just couldn't catch a break. The French supply ships were captured by the English and Champlain was eventually forced to come to terms.

A small wrinkle in all this was that peace had been declared in April and Quebec captured in July. It would be several years of negotiation before the French colony was returned in 1632. In 1633 for his service to his king (and perhaps as compensation for having to give Quebec back) Kirke was knighted.

In 1637 he was made co-proprietor of Newfoundland along with the Marquis of Hamilton and the earls of Pembroke and Holland. He would become Governor of the island in 1639. He was given a grant of arms that in the intervening period would fall into obscurity only to re-emerge later and be adopted as Newfoundland's coat of arms. He had an unenviable position as governor as he had to contend with a foreign fishery that did not want local settlement on the island. Nevertheless he brought about 100 colonists to the settlement of Ferryland where he also erected fortifications.

King Charles I

During the English Civil War Sir David Kirke sided with the Royalists. This is when a most daring plan was concocted. He implored King Charles to seek sanctuary at the Ferryland settlement. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds since, when well supplied, the settlement was virtually unassailable by sea. Sir David began improving the colony's defences and outfitting a fleet. In 1648 the plan became even more feasible when a large part of the English Navy deserted to the Royalists. Prince Rupert, a leader on the Royalist side, wanted to use the fleet to rescue the King who was being held on the Isle of Wright. It is an open question whether the two men were actively working together but Cromwell did fear the island would be used as a Royalist base to strike at English shipping and kept it under strict monitoring. Alas, the planning and preparation of both men came to naught and King Charles was murdered by the Cromwell regime in early 1649.

It seems Sir David may have intended to continue the fight as he hired 400 sailors, ostensibly as fishermen, in 1649. However, Cromwell had access to the colony too strictly controlled and Sir David was forced to make peace with him. The remains of the Royalist fleet commanded by Prince Rupert was reduced to a handful of ships by 1653.

Sir David was recalled to England where he died of natural causes but his family would remain at the Ferryland settlement for some time. It would take a raid on the settlement in 1673 and another in 1696 to finally dislodge the Kirkes from Newfoundland.

It is interesting to speculate on what might have been had King Charles made his escape to Newfoundland. It is unlikely Parliament would have recalled a man they had just fought a bitter war with. It is indeed possible that the centre of of what was at the time still a modest empire would have shifted to Canadian shores.

Regardless, Sir David Kirke showed loyal service to his king and the fledgling colony of Newfoundland.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour