CANADA: The Royal Tour

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, has visited Canada only once—a few hours’ shore leave in Halifax in 1941 when he was 20 years old. “He looked just like any other Royal Navy midshipman,” remembers a Halifax girl. “He seemed to be growing out of his uniform.” Philip’s wife, Princess Elizabeth, has never been in Canada at all, though her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, owns an Alberta ranch, and her parents, King George and Queen Elizabeth, toured the Dominion in 1939. The heiress-presumptive to the British throne has, in fact, visited only one of the Commonwealth Dominions abroad, South Africa in 1947.

Last week, Canada was promised a closer acquaintance with the young royal couple. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent announced that Elizabeth and Philip had accepted an invitation to visit the Dominion in October.

The news was a pleasurable surprise across the country. Everyone recalled how the 1939 tour by the King & Queen drew the biggest crowds ever known in Canada. A flood of messages descended on Ottawa from practically every city and hamlet, begging to be included in the itinerary of the Prince & Princess. But such details will have to wait until Buckingham Palace reveals how long Elizabeth and Philip intend to stay (they will probably also visit the U.S.). The Ottawa Journal suggested that the Princess might stay a while as Canada’s governor-general: “There could be no better experience for a future British ruler than a term as governor-general of a Commonwealth country outside the United Kingdom.”