OTTAWA (CU)_Last month, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made headlines with their royal tour in the Caribbean, with visits to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Meanwhile, Princess Anne and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, are currently in Papua New Guinea, having arrived in the island nation on Monday. The visits are a part of the year-long celebrations held in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and Prince Charles is also due to follow suit.
The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are scheduled to arrive in Canada in May, for a three-day tour, to mark Her Majesty’s seven-decade reign. His visit has been scheduled at a time when the 95-year-old monarch has scaled back and cancelled many public appearances amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and herself fallen ill with the virus a couple of months ago. “We’ve seen Charles and Camilla undertaking the kind of long-haul travel that was a hallmark of the Queen’s reign, as the Queen is the best travelled monarch in history,” Carolyn Harris, a Toronto historian and royal commentator, told The Province.
The couple were the last royals to have toured Canada, having visited Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut back in 2017 for the nation’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Prince Charles himself is a familiar face for the people of Canada as he has been visiting the country since 1970, while the tour scheduled for May will be Camilla’s fifth visit.
Next month, the couple is expected to pay visits to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the Northwest Territories and the Ottawa area. According to the official announcement of the tour, they will “meet with a diverse range of communities, and hear their stories” during their time in Canada and will have the opportunity to experience the country’s “rich military history” and “raise awareness of the impacts of climate change”.