William and Kate celebrate Canada Day with its newest citizens

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge witness swearing in of new Canadians on the second day of their North American tour Prince William saw the swearing in of 25 new Canadian citizens on Friday, though he – prince of Canada that he is – was not one of them. There were Chinese, Cubans, French, Greeks, Haitians, Romanians and even Madagascan residents swearing an oath of allegiance to his grandmother and to him as one of her heirs and successors, yet if anyone noticed the irony, they did not care to mention it. The prince, with his wife, Duchess Kate, beside him, was guest of honour on Canada Day in Ottawa and tens of thousands turned out to cheer and whoop. From early morning a sea of red and white converged in front of the country’s parliament. On what was to become a hot and nearly cloudless day Canadians trudged towards the site, most wearing the national colours, many carrying maple leaf flags in their hair or on their baseball caps or T-shirts. Canadians may be God’s doughty people and while they were stoically out to enjoy themselves they carried macs, just in case. Across the river, outside the Canadian Museum of Civilization, an appropriate place for the citizenship ceremony in this most civilised nation, there was the first demonstrator of the tour. Dressed in a bear costume and bearing a motto “Bearskins look better on bears”, she didn’t seem to mind being ignored. Inside the museum’s hall, lined with giant totem poles, mounties genially posed for photographs with the new citizens while the Canadian air force’s string quartet gently strummed the theme from Desert Island Discs like a palm court orchestra – a strange choice as desert islands are one thing Canada lacks. On television screens more characteristic scenes were shown, most of them seemingly including snow. Two of the new citizens, Romanians Adrian and Florentina Uzea, cradling their baby daughter, Stephanie, were explaining their choice. Both agricultural economists – Adrian now works for the national organisation of broiler chicken farmers – they had decided Canada was a safer place to raise their daughter, though they retain their old nationality as well just in case there is a roasting in the Canadian poultry sector. “In Romania when you decide to have kids you have to think twice, but here you know you can support your family,” said Florentina. Looking round, she added: “This is better than I expected … and yes, it is a thrill. We didn’t know the prince would be here until recently.” “It’s appropriate,” chipped in her husband. “Canada was a dominion of Britain, which makes it more special.” Ceremonies were taking place across the country, from Gander to Whitehorse, the governor general said, swearing in maybe 150,000 new citizens, but only Ottawa had a prince to watch. And soon he was among them, grinning his diffident chipmunk smile, with his wife, a striking vision in white and red, beside him. Her costume, by the Montreal-born designer Erdem Moralioglu, was apparently the one chosen for her engagement photographs by Mario Testino last year – waste not want not, though hardly an austerity drive. It was topped by a small scarlet cross between a hat and a fascinator crowned with maple leaves and tailed by equally scarlet stilettos. Dutifully, the couple waited while the governor general, David Johnston, read out the oath of citizenship – first in French – leading the new citizens as they murmured allegiance to Sa Majesté la Reine Elizabeth Deux; and then in English, louder, just to make sure. “We are grateful you have chosen Canada,” he said as if they had taken out a life insurance policy, which in a way some probably had. It was a gentle invitation, he said, echoing words of the Queen. Then: “Do your best for Canada.” For the royal party it was then on to the more boisterous celebrations across the river and up the hill, a journey partly undertaken in the state landau. Meanwhile, the crowds at the museum agreed the couple were lovely, sweet, gorgeous, a credit to Canada, a country Kate had not visited before. Three characters standing well back from the crowd, bearing posters saying “No oath to royalty”, “Democracy not royalty” and, slightly more cumbersomely, “Monarchy oaths violate charter freedoms” were politely ignored – it is the Canadian way. Canada Prince William Kate Middleton Monarchy Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 1, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.