photo from Carl Court, WPA Pool/Getty Images
Dear HRH William and Catherine:
Welcome to Canada, eh!
The young Royals… the handsome Prince and his beautiful bride, arrive in Canada today! ( for details on the Royal tour, click here ).
I’m Canadian, born & raised and while I also have my American citizenship (yay!), there’s still part of me that remains intrinsically Canadian. Given the right surroundings, my dialect easily reverts back to words that sound a bit like “oout” and “aboot” (out and about), I reference objects that baffle my children … like a “chesterfield” (couch) and I invite others to “supper” (not dinner, for dinner is at …lunchtime). 🙂
His Granny, our Queen, is on Canadian’s money, in the classrooms and many locales all over the country pay tribute to our British roots: cities like Prince Albert and Regina, Saskatchewan (where I’m from), provinces named Prince Edward Island and Alberta and streets named “Confederation.” The list goes on.
In April, I wrote about the wedding and connected with so many of you; I also wrote about HRH Diana, Princess of Wales and pondered on if had she still been with us what that would have been like and now … Newsweek … deemed it appropriate to Photoshop an aged image of Diana walking next to Catherine. Diana, at 50 (her 50th birthday would have been tomorrow, Canada Day).
We just can’t get enough can we?
I don’t know about you but positioning the most famous woman in the world – Diana … Goddess of the Hunted .. next to Catherine … feels like we’re putting a target on Kate and releasing the hounds next.
It’s too much.
At the end of the day, there remains a young man who lost his Mum at a tender age; a young man who is striving to find his place on this .. their first Royal tour. There’s a savvy young woman strolling confidently next to him, her long legged stride matching his step for step. Her face, accompanied by determined “set” to her jaw, reminds me so much of Diana .. but a young woman, nonetheless, who is determined to be relevant and to get it right.
I’ll be watching to see how they do … as I am sure she will, too. But I wish the hounds could be restrained so we could let them do their jobs.
Oh .. there will be record breaking crowds straining to see their smiling faces and her fashion choices and yes there might be Quebecois protestors and most definitely wee children waving flags. However, when it’s all said and done, these two young people, the future of the British Monarchy … will most likely enchant a nation and quite possibly the world.
It’s Canada’s 144th birthday tomorrow, Will & Kate. Enjoy our country, the mountains, valleys, plains and people. Hear our cheers welcoming you and tomorrow, on your Mum’s birthday, we’ll be waving our flags, singing “O Canada” and celebrating her, too.
( click on screen below to start an amazing Domino tribute! )
