Posted by Ian McKechnie on November 3, 2009, 5:29 pm
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Prince Charles has done an awfully good job at immersing himself into Canada as just that: a Canadian Prince. In doing so, he carries on the tradition of the 1919 Royal Visit. The former Prince of Wales came to Canada and undertook a wide variety of Canadian enagagements; he did so proudly and without subverting Canada to a status lower than that of the United Kingdom.
I am not sure as to when Canadian governments began requesting royal visits sans British input, but I think 1919 marked a turning point, indeed for Canadian royal tours. I recall reading somewhere that the future Edward VIII said something akin to the following ninety years ago: "When I travel to America, I shall be doing so not only as a fellow Briton, but also as a fellow Canadian."
What makes the Royal Family British? Their heritage, their place of birth, their place of residence, and their accent, perhaps. But what makes them Canadian? I would suggest that their heritage, their self-identification with Canada and Canadian subjects, and their being another piece of glass in that Canadian cultural mosaic makes them thoroughly Canadian.
I am not anti-British and I harbour no bad feelings towards the Union flag, but I think it is high time Canadians and Canadian governments understood and celebrated the uniquely Canadian context of the Royal Family as opposed to seeing them merely as "stuffy Brits." Prince Charles has shown in his speeches thus far that being Canadian is not so much being part of some vague mythological ethnicity (as the republican nationalists will tell us) but being part of a great national and international family.
I think this song speaks well of Canada and its relation to the Royal Family:
Wherever you travel
I'll be there, I'll be there.
Wherever you travel
I'll be there.
And the creed and the colour
And the name won't matter
I'll be there.
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