Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Visit Canada this Summer
June 13, 2021

In the coming weeks, Canadians will have the opportunity to welcome their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as they visit Canada on their first Royal Tour as a married couple.

Following their recent nuptials, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge have chosen Canada as the destination of their first official visit outside of Britain. The Royal Highnesses will one day become the future King and Queen of the British Empire, and therefore, as the heads of state of the Dominion of Canada, the decision to make our country their first official Royal Tour, is symbolic of the importance of Canada within the British Commonwealth. Furthermore, it also demonstrates the strong relationship between the Canadian and British people.

Although the role played today by the Monarch in Canada is largely ceremonial, it is nonetheless of great historic and cultural importance. Since Canada is a former British colony with many Canadians having British descent and with many still maintaining family ties in the British Isles, it continues to be a priority of both the Canadian government, as well as the Royal Family, to keep up the continuing friendship between the two countries.

The Royal couple will begin their tour of Canada on June 30, visiting the national capital region and joining Canadians in celebrating the 144th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, on July 1st. Their tour will continue with visits to Montreal, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories. The final stop on the Duke and Duchess’s tour will be Calgary, Alberta, where they will attend the annual Calgary Stampede.

This summer’s Royal Tour will not be the Duke of Cambridge’s first visit to Canada. In fact, Prince William has been here twice, first in 1991, with his brother, Prince Harry and his parents Prince Charles, and Diana, Princess of Whales, on an Official Royal Tour of Ontario, visiting Toronto, Sudbury, Niagara Falls, Kingston and Ottawa. In 1998, William returned to Canada - this time for a ski vacation in Whistler, British Columbia with his father and brother.

Though this will be the Duchess of Cambridge’s first visit to Canada, she does have some Canadian connections to be noted. Her grandfather, Peter Middleton, was reportedly stationed in Calgary during the Second World War, as he underwent training as a member of the Royal Air Force. Additionally, one of her favourite childhood books was the Lucy Maud Montgomery classic, Anne of Green Gables. She is said to have requested that Prince Edward Island be included on the itinerary of the Royal couple’s Canadian tour, in order to see the fictional Green Gables, and other landmarks mentioned in the book.

For more information about the Royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and their upcoming Canadian tour, please visit www.royaltour.gc.ca.