Royal tours of Canada

[28] During the royal tour of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939, the Queen initiated the tradition of the "royal walkabout",[29] though her brother-in-law, the former King Edward VIII, had often met ordinary Canadian people in 1919, when Prince of Wales; as he said, "getting off the train to stretch my legs, I would start up conversations with farmers, section hands, miners, small town editors, or newly arrived immigrants from Europe.

[32] Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn became the second member of the royal family to tour the Canadian colonies and the first to live there for an extended period of time.

The 19th century saw the beginning of modern royal tours in the country, with travel becoming easier and faster due to technological innovations such as the steamship, and rail transports.

This first official royal tour of British North America was considered a success and helped lead to the unification of the colonies seven years later by confirming a common bond between their inhabitants.

The Canadian welcome delegation consisted of the Governor General of the Province of Canada, Edmund Walker Head, and Joint Premiers, George-Étienne Cartier, and John A.

[44] Following his visit to Quebec City, the Prince of Wales proceeded towards Montreal aboard HMS Hero, joined by several members of the Legislative Assembly near Trois-Rivières.

[50] In Toronto, the Prince attended the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's regatta, agreeing to become its patron; and opened Allan Gardens, and Queen's Park to the public.

Arriving in Halifax, he undertook a two-month royal tour of the colony of Prince Edward Island, and the newly formed Dominion of Canada, before returning to military duty in Montreal.

In a formal ceremony, the chief of the three "clans" of the Mohawks received The Prince, and conferred upon him the name "Kavakoudge," meaning "the sun flying from east to west under the guidance of the Great Spirit.

[61] In 1878, Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, requested the Marquess of Lorne be appointed the next Governor General of Canada, with his wife, Princess Louise, to be viceregal consort.

[69][70] Louise returned to Canada until 4 June 1882, although rumors of a Fenian plot against her forced her to remain in the Citadelle of Quebec,[71] a military installation used by the Canadian militia, and the secondary residence for the Monarch, and the Governor General.

His decision to turn down an additional year in office was questioned by some, with Queen Victoria suspecting that Lord Lorne was jealous of Louise's popularity with Canadians, in contrast to his own.

[73] The Marquess and Princess Louise concluded their term in Canada with a farewell tours in Montreal, and Toronto, leaving for the United Kingdom from Quebec City on 27 October 1883.

After Prince Aribert was found in bed with another man, his father, Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt, accused Marie Louise of indecency, claiming that his son was denied his conjugal rights.

[76] As the period of court mourning for Queen Victoria's death had not yet expired during their time in Canada, public balls, banquets, and levees planned for the royal tour were cancelled, with only official dinners, concerts, receptions, and reviews taking place.

During his time in Quebec City, Prince George invested Lieutenant Richard Ernest William Turner with the Victoria Cross for his conduct during the Battle of Leliefontein in a ceremony at the Plains of Abraham, and spoke to students at the Université Laval.

[99] In Ontario, he laid the foundation stone of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, met with the League of Canadian Indians at Sault Ste Marie, and took a three-day canoe trip down the Nipigon River to fish and hunt with two Ojibwa guides.

[103] He made another private visit to his ranch in 1924, as well as touring as well various towns and cities; in the latter year, he stopped at Rideau Hall for various official functions and again frustrated his staff by disappearing for dancing and golf.

[122] Elizabeth returned to Canada in 1957, there giving her first ever live television address, appointing her husband to her Canadian Privy Council at a meeting which she chaired, and on 14 October, opening the first session of the 23rd parliament.

June Callwood said in her coverage of the tour for Maclean's: "The Queen's role in Canada, it appeared to some observers, hinged on calculated pageantry, just enough to warm the pride of Canadians who revere tradition and stateliness above state but not so much as to antagonize those who consider royalty a blindingly off-colour bauble in an age of lean fear.

[127] One of the most important events of this trip was the official opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, along with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, where, in Prescott, Ontario, the Queen made her first live appearance on Canadian television.

The sovereign presided over a Queen's Scout recognition ceremony in Fredericton, visited the veterans' hospital in Lancaster, and undertook a walkabout in Victoria Park, Moncton.

At Pointe-du-Chêne, the royal couple visited briefly with the families of fishermen who had died the previous month in a storm off Escuminac, making a donation to the New Brunswick Fisherman's Disaster Fund that was established in honour of the deceased.

Prime Minister Diefenbaker urged her to cut the tour short after her disclosure to him at Kingston, Ontario, but the Queen swore him to secrecy and continued the journey, leaving the public announcement of the upcoming birth until she returned to London.

[141] The Queen's second day in New Brunswick brought her to the Miramichi area, where she attended a provincial lunch, visited Chatham and Newcastle, and toured the Burchill Laminating Plant in Nelson-Miramichi.

[142] The Queen also journeyed to New Brunswick to celebrate the province's bicentennial in 1984, touching down, along with Prince Philip, at Moncton airport on 24 September, from where the royal party travelled to Shediac, Sackville, Riverview, and Fredericton over the course of three days.

[151] The Prince and his first wife, the Princess of Wales attended the bicentennial in 1983 of the arrival of the first Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia,[152] and also visited Newfoundland to mark the 400th anniversary of the island becoming an English colony.

[158] The Alberta Ministry of Learning encouraged teachers to focus education on the monarchy and to organize field trips for their students to see the Queen and her consort, or to watch the events on television.

[117] The Princess Royal's private tours to Canada are typically conducted in association with her honorary role as the colonel in chief of six units in the Canadian Forces.

[178] Prior to their first public appearance, reports had surfaced in 2016 that Harry visited Meghan at her home in Toronto; who was residing in the city from 2011 to 2017 in order to film the television series Suits.