You are here: Home » Featured » Quebec Welcomes Prince And Princess

Quebec Welcomes Prince And Princess

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on July 3, 2011.

07-03-2011 by Linda S. Carbonell

Saturday evening, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine, boarded the HMCS (Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship) Montreal in Montreal and sailed east to dock at Quebec City’s Queen’s Wharf.. After breakfast with the officers in the mess, they attended an interdenominational service on deck, presided over by Brigadier-General Karl McLean, Chaplain General of the Canadian Forces. The presence of the Duke and Duchess was part of the sermon delivered by Dennis Drainville, Anglican Bishop of Quebec, who said “The significance for me and for many Anglicans is very simple. We have a long association with the monarchy. William will someday be King and because of that his opportunity to come here and be among people – Canadians – and learn about Canada is vrey important. We are diverse. Her Majesty the Queen is one of the most faithful individuals, every year she gives in her message and indication of the Christian values and virtues that are so important to us. William, being her grandson, I’m sure will carry on that tradition.”

Well, that was a nice piece of pre-emptive persuasion. The British monarch has been the head of the Anglican Church (the Church of England) since Henry VIII split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. Prince Charles has indicated that when he ascends the throne, he will give up that position. Bishop Drainville was expressing his view that the relationship between the crown and the church should continue to a young couple who lived together before marriage and a future king whose father, aunt and uncle are considered unrepentant sinners in the eyes of that church.

So, Prince William got to spend his Sunday being lectured by an Anglican priest about his future role as king before going off to visit La Maison Dauphine (The Princess’ House), a shelter for troubled youth.

Then he got to face a populace who are really ambiguous about him and his grandmother – the Quebecois.

Just north of the City of Quebec is a public park called The Plains of Abraham. No, it’s not a Biblical reference, far from it. Abraham was Abraham Martin, Champlain’s mapmaker and navigator, who with his wife and children was one of the first three families given farmland by the French government as part of the founding of the city and the colony. Ninty-five years after Martin’s death, the French lost the deciding battle of their attempt to repel the British invasion of Canada on the land that had been his farm. It’s been 252 years since that battle, or it was just yesterday. It all depends on whether or not you believe in Quebec’s separation from Canada. As engrossed as many Quebecois are with their own genealogies, they do not wish to discuss just how much French ancestry Prince William has. It’s irrelevant. He represents a British monarchy.

In Montreal, the Reseau de resistance du Quebecois had protested outside the Sainte-Justine hospital when the couple were visiting there. They showed up again in Quebec and claimed that they were responsible for the plaine flying overhead that pulled a banner reading “Vive le Quebec libre.”

After an inspection of the Royal 22^nd Regiment, William and Kate moved on the The Citadel in the heart of the old city. There, Prince William delivered a speech in flawless French, which puts him one-up on Monaco’s new Serene Highness, Princess Charlene, who still hasn’t gotten the hang of the language. He praised the Quebecois, “It’s an honour for me to be here with you in Quebec today. For me, as a soldier and an airman, it is a privilege to have inspected a great regiment like the Royal 22^nd. Your reputation is as strong as it is legendary. This place has such beauty and history. You, the Quebecois et Quebecoises, have such vitality and vigour.”

Following William’s speech, the couple really broke loose from the schedule, walking among the gathered crowd, shaking hands and speaking with dozens of people. Walk-abouts were not on the itinerary because of the threat of demonstrators. The demonstrators were there, a very small group carrying the requisite signs and flashing middle-finger salutes. They were greatly outnumbered by those who came to catch a glimpse of the glamourous newlyweds.

Two of our fellow townspersons, Hannah Hoelscher and a friend from Rutland, Vermont, made the drive to try to see the Duke and Duchess, because they are “young and they’re fun and they seem to really care about everyone.” They never dreaming they would actually shake hands with them. “I was really crossing my fingers [that I would see them], but I did not dream in a million years that we would actually get to meet both of them, first William and then the big shocker was Kate. I told her she was beautiful and she laughed it off and we wished them well in California.”

William and Kate also visited Forts-de-Levis, which was built after our Civil War as part of a ring of defenses against the possibility of an American invasion. Then, they headed for Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island where they would participate in an informal media event. After a night in Charlottetown, they will spend July 4 on the island before leaving that night for Yellowknife in the Northwest Territory.