Her brother, 3-year-old George, has visited Australia and New Zealand on an official tour.
Advertisement
But all eyes were on the young prince and princess who are rarely seen in public together and likely to steal the limelight away from their parents. “This allows the parents to relax”. The Duchess wore a blue Jenny Packham dress and the Queen’s maple leaf brooch in honour of her surroundings.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in Canada for their second official visit – but this time as a family of four.
Hundreds of people lined blue gates criss-crossing the legislature lawn, many sporting small Canadian and British Columbia flags in their hands, hats or hair. The warm welcome you gave us at that important moment in our lives meant a lot to us, and we have never forgotten it. “That is why we are so pleased that George and Charlotte can be with us in Canada this time around, beginning their lifetime of friendship with this wonderful country”. This time they will take in the natural beauty of Canada’s Pacific coast, heading as far north as the rugged Yukon territory, and will also meet with indigenous people.
Trudeau, who has three young children himself, joked that touring with young kids would be an entirely different experience than their first visit five years ago shortly after their wedding.
Some things did capture the children’s attention – when Kate pointed to the Airbus behind them Charlotte waved at it and George waved at the dozens of photographers and cameramen in front of him and later at a helicopter flying nearby.
Prince William and Duchess Kate walked a long red carpet, greeting well-wishers along the way. He accompanied his father, Prince Charles, and his brother Harry in 1998, 11 months after the death of their mother Princess Diana.
William and Kate will then return to Government House where will have meetings with senior Canadian leaders before retiring for the night. Crowds of frenzied teenage girls greeted the princes in Vancouver then, cementing William’s status as a teen heartthrob.
About an hour before the Royal family is set to arrive, fans were busy making friends in hopes of seeing the royal couple in the official ceremony of welcome.
Duchess of Cambridge with her 16-month old daughter, Charlotte.
“They really had to work hard to maintain a kind of connection to Britain and they partly did that by naming and claiming”, he said of local officials.
The visit will also take the royal couple to Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii and Kelowna in British Columbia as well as Whitehorse and Carcross in Yukon.
On Sunday, William and Kate travel to Vancouver where their itinerary includes a visit to Sheway, a pregnancy outreach program for mothers struggling with drug and alcohol issues in the heart of the city’s Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood known for its extreme poverty, homelessness and drug addiction. William’s mother Diana was on hand when Sheway’s precursor opened in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1991.
Advertisement
An employee walks by a painting of Queen Elizabeth during a media briefing about event preparations ahead of the Royal visit to the Government House in Victoria. More than 30,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since Trudeau was elected last fall.
