Category: Royal Tour

Canadian Royal Tour Stories

9/10/2019

I have an occasional interest in stories about Canadians and
their interactions with the Royal Family. I don't think these
stories are all that rare as even within the ranks of my 30, or
so, coworkers two have shared stories about Royal Tours. The
first is a story I have I may have already shared at one point.

When my coworker was a young girl she was part of an event
in Riverview, New Brunswick. I believe this would have been
the 1984 Royal Tour which celebrated New Brunswick's
bicentennial. While the Queen had gone to Sackville for an
event, Prince Philip attended an event in Riverview. The local
school seems to have had their students attend. As it turns out
my future coworker was one of the few students who dressed
up for the occasion. Either noticing that she had put some
effort into her appearance or that she was somewhat self-
conscious about this fact, Prince Philip approached her and
remarked about the somewhat unkempt appearance of the
other attendees.

The second story was relayed to me recently by a second
coworker. His son is a member of the RCMP and when he was
a rookie he was assigned to be part of the Queen's security
detail while she was staying at a hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Normally a rookie would not be given this job but it was found at the last minute that another officer assigned to the security
detail did not have a suit. My coworker's son was asked if he
did. He in fact did which got him added to the Queen's
security. That night he was assigned to the hotel grounds
where he chatted with a senior member of the security detail.
This man had an ear piece that was connected to microphones
in the Queen's bedroom so at the first sign of trouble he would
be alerted. The next morning the young rookie was assigned to the kitchen. The cook asked if he wanted a piece of
blueberry pie. He accepted and as he was eating he was made
aware of the fact that only one other piece had been served
from that pie which was the Queen's piece. I can only make
assumptions but it may well be that the Queen's food is kept
separate to avoid the potential for poisoning.

Anyways, these have been two stories about Canadian Royal
Tours. I hope you found them at least a little bit interesting.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The Time A Prince Went Crowd-Surfing

2/22/2018

Edward during the Great War

I am making my way through
David Johnson's new book Battle
Royal when I came across what is
likely the only recorded case of a
royal crowd-surfing. The context
of this event was the 1919 Royal
Tour by Prince Edward (the future
King Edward VIII). The prince was
scheduled to inspect some
veterans of the recently-ended
Great War in Toronto when there
was a slight breakdown in
discipline. It serves as an excellent
example of the fondness our men
and women in uniform continue to
have for their sovereign. Below is
the account Edward recorded in
his memoirs.

"The moment I appeared the veterans broke ranks and,
cheering and yelling, surged around me. At first my mount
showed commendable control. Then, as the human mass
engulfed us both, I felt its body quiver. Fortunately, even if
its instinct had been to rear up and bolt, the crowd held it as
a vise. The next thing I knew I was being lifted off the horse's
back by strong hands and passed like a football over the
heads of the veterans. Disheveled, shaken and breathless, I
eventually found myself on the platform, clutching the
crumpled notes of my speech. The roar of cheering had
changed to laughter. I wish Papa could have seen this."

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Colour Video of the 1939 Royal Visit to Winnipeg Discovered

1/4/2018

An article on the CBC webpage is reporting the discovery of
a rare colour film from 1939 recording the royal visit of King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Winnipeg.

It remains a mystery who took the footage at a time when
colour recording was just becoming commercially available.

It is interesting to note that First Nations and Chinese were
both present in the parade. Republicans often like to
characterize the Royal Family as being of limited interest to
those who are not Anglo-Saxon. This video is yet another
example of how that just isn't the case.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

2016 Royal Tour Itinerary

8/25/2016

The itinerary for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's
homecoming has been released:
Sept. 24: Victoria
Sept. 25: Vancouver
Sept. 26: Bella Bella
Sept. 27: Victoria, Kelowna, Whitehorse
Sept. 28: Whitehorse, Carcross
Sept. 29: Victoria
Sept. 30: Haida Gwaii
Oct. 1: Victoria

While Victoria will be visited multiple times by the Duke and
Duchess several smaller communities will also be in the
spotlight. The residents of the small community of Bella Bella
is excited to be hosting members of the Royal Family.
Bella Bella is home to the Heiltsuk tribe. Heiltsuk Hereditary
Chief Harvey Humchitt has spoken about the excitement in
Bella Bella and how the royal visit is a chance to highlight the
community's success.

The Department of Canadian Heritage has stated that First
Nations culture and the beauty of British Columbia is the
theme of this royal tour. I'd say the first part is the more
important of the two. This is a chance for Canada's First
Nations and two of Canada's future kings to start building on
a relationship that has long been central to Canada. Once
more Canada will welcome home members of our Royal
Family. Further details about events in each community will
be released as time goes on.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Royal Tour Announced for 2016

7/27/2016

Governor General David
Johnston has announced
that the Duke & Duchess
of Cambridge will be
coming home to Canada
in the autumn of this year
for a royal tour. They will
be visiting British Columbia
and the Yukon territory.

This will be William and Kate's second tour of Canada. Their
first royal tour in 2011 was a great success and has been
attributed with increasing interest in the monarchy among a
younger demographic.

The Department of Canadian Heritage will release a detailed
itinerary at a later date. This will be an excellent opportunity
for Canadians to get to know their future king and queen.

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

Albert County's Victory Cannons

11/11/2014

In honour of Remembrance Day I thought I'd write a little about New Brunswick military and royal history. Specifically I'd like to shine a light on the 1919 Victory Loans Campaign.

The Great War cost a lot of money. Various methods were used to raise the funds to pay for it (income taxes are one such temporary measure). Government-issued war bonds were another method eventually adopted. However, after the war was over there was still a substantial amount of debt to pay off. This led to the Victory Loan Campaign of 1919.

As part of the campaign a special flag featuring the coat of arms of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) could be won by communities that raised a certain amount of money. In addition a number of German howitzers were offered as rewards for significant contributions to the campaign.

Spiffy

The Prince of Wales, who was actually in Canada for his 1919 Royal Tour, presided over a ceremony where the first of 'The Prince's Flags' was unfurled. The campaign had begun.

The theme of this campaign unlike previous ones was rebuilding, cleanup, demobilizing, and a return to relative normalcy.

In New Brunswick each county had a target amount set based on ability to pay. Albert County's target was set at $110,000. By the end of the campaign the community had raised nearly triple that amount with a total of $317,600. Others raised higher total sums but only Albert County managed the feat of raising triple the target amount. In fact every New Brunswick county but one raised more than their target and was awarded a flag.

For raising such a staggering sum the people of Albert County were given one of the cannons captured at Vimy Ridge; a German 10-CM K14. They were given a second cannon for an even more impressive feat: Albert County had the highest number of volunteers per capita from anywheres in Canada. This second cannon was also from Vimy Ridge but was an older 7.7-CMFK96 N.A.model. A smaller weapon more akin to a field gun than the guns that would follow it. It bears the German imperial cypher (or coat of arms, it is somewhat worn away).

The two cannons were set up in the county's shiretown of Hopewell Cape. There they have stood against wind, rain, and picnic tables to the present day. Monuments to Canadian military achievement, the bravery of the men who went off to fight for king & country in the 'war to end all wars', and the hope that a lasting peace could be built.

There is currently a campaign underway to fix the inevitable decay of nearly 100 years. Donations can be made here. You can also learn more about the circumstances of the guns' capture at the same site.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

The 7.7-CMFK96 N.A. gun with wheels removed for repairs