giovedì 22 settembre 2016

Royal Visits to Canada in History - Part II

With further details of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's upcoming tour of Canada just announced, and the tour itself only a few days away, it's the perfect time to delve further into past royal visits to the country, following on my previous post, which you can read here.
We left off with the Queen's tour in 1978, and we're back with a bang, examining the first visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales, which took place in the summer of 1983 to coincide with the official opening of the World Universities Games and the 400th anniversary of Sir Humphrey Gilbert taking possession of Newfoundland.

Princess Diana dazzled Canadians with a stunning tour wardrobe:



Greeting the crowds in Edmonton.


With Premier Peter Lougheed and his wife Jeanne at an evening event.

Predictably, a lot of diplomatic red and white were chosen (clockwise from top left: in Shelburne, Nova Scotia; at the Festival of Youth in St John's, Newfoundland; in Halifax, Nova Scotia; again in Edmonton for the World Universities Games, where a crowd of 60,000 sang 'Happy Birthday' to the Princess, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on tour):




The Prince and Princess were famously pictured in historical Klondike costumes:


In 1987, the Duke and Duchess of York were photographed in similar, even if perhaps more flamboyant, attire during their own first tour of the country:


The Prince and Princess of Wales went back in October 1991, this time accompanied by Princes William and Harry (pictured below at Niagara Falls, in Toronto, and the Princess on her own in Kingston, Ontario):



The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh went back in the summer of 1997, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland by the explorer John Cabot:


This was followed by another extensive tour in October 2002, the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee:


The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall undertook their first official visit to the country as a couple (in fact, the 15th for the Prince) in November 2009:



The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh returned in July 2010 for what was arguably their final visit, as they've since curtailed long-haul travel. At a reception in Toronto, the Queen dazzled in a maple-leaf embellished gown:



On a differen occasion, she wore a yellow silk suit by Angela Kelly, with the jacket beaded at the collar and cuffs in a pattern devised by Ms Kelly and her team and embroidered by skilled women of the Mi'kmaq community, whose knowledge of beading goes back hundred of years.
The Queen accessorised her jacket with a brooch in the shape of a spray of enamel maple leaves, thought to be a gift to the Duchess of Cornwall and York, later Queen Mary, by the Ladies of Montreal during her 1901 tour of the country:



Everyone will of course remember that the following year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Canada in their first official overseas tour as a married couple (you can find a comprehensive recap of the Duchess's tour outfits here):


While in Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 2012, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were presented with a toy moose for Prince George by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (note that the Duchess is wearing a coat with lapels and accents in the tartan of Nova Scotia):


During the 2012 tour, the Duchess also made her inaugural visit to the Queen's Own Rifles at Moss Park Armoury in Toronto as their newly-appointed Colonel-in-Chief. I love these photos of her unveiling an official portait to mark the occasion:




Most recently, the Princess Royal travelled to the country to mark Canada Day in July this year:


And now all that's left to do for us royal watchers is wait until Saturday at 3.15 pm PDT for the Royal Tour to kick off! I'll leave you with this adorable photo from Government House in Victoria, BC, of the fountains being made ready for the arrival of Prince George and Princess Charlotte with the addition of some rubber duckies!