Prince Philip (1921-2021): Duke of Edinburgh visited Quebec more often than the Queen

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Prince Philip, whose death at age 99 was confirmed by Buckingham Palace Friday, visited Quebec more than you might have imagined. 

The Duke of Edinburgh was a more frequent visitor than Queen Elizabeth, dropping in 14 times, four more than his wife.

And unlike the Queen, whose stops in the province were always part of tours that took her to other parts of the country, Prince Philip once spent an entire trip to Canada in Quebec — a four-day visit in 1989.

That trip, largely focused on anglophone bastions in the Eastern Townships, was the brainchild of Gordon Bruce Okill Stuart of St-Lambert, who in the 1930s had been a classmate of Prince Philip at the Gordonstoun boarding school in Scotland.

Stuart invited the prince to a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada. It represents descendants of the 45,000 Americans who remained loyal to King George III and fled to Canada during the American Revolution in the late 1700s.

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Prince Philip quickly accepted the invitation.

The biggest crowds were in Lennoxville. About 2,000 sat in the hot sun as he inspected cadets at Bishop’s College School. Another 1,000 well-wishers and 75 Second World War veterans greeted him during his walkabout at the Uplands Cultural and Heritage Centre. In Sherbrooke, 400 lined streets and lawns near city hall to greet the prince.

Two years earlier, Premier Robert Bourassa had posed for photos with his royal guests at a state dinner he hosted in the National Assembly restaurant for the prince and the Queen.

This time, Bourassa reportedly resisted issuing an invitation to the prince and then skipped his government’s dinner for the royal. It was an election year and Quebec was in turmoil over a Supreme Court ruling in favour of allowing bilingual store signs.

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In the end, the visit of a symbol of all things English was largely ignored by Quebec nationalists, in stark contrast to some of his previous trips that included the Queen.

Prince Philip, known for occasional gaffes and off-colour comments, consistently sidestepped potential landmines when Canadian reporters were allowed close enough to buttonhole him.

At a 1962 press conference at the Windsor Hotel, Quebec separatism came up. “Canada isn’t the only country with a dual language and cultural problem” was as far as he would go. Pressed for a comment in 1980 about the prickly question of constitutional reform, the prince told a reporter: “I don’t think I could add to the discussion except to infuriate people like you.”

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Over decades of royal visits, the Queen and Prince Philip had a front-row seat to Quebec’s shifting allegiances during their joint and separate visits to the province.

Cheering throngs of the 1950s gave way to protests by nationalists and a riot in the 1960s. Starting in the 1980s, the Queen and prince were received with growing indifference, and as support for sovereignty waned so did interest in demonstrating against the monarchy.

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The royal couple first set foot in Quebec in 1951 when the Queen was a 25-year-old princess on the first of her 22 official visits to Canada.

They were greeted by enthusiastic admirers in Montreal. More than one million Union Jack-waving Montrealers lined their route around the city. An estimated 40,000 people cheered as they waved from a balcony at the Windsor Hotel overlooking what is now known as Dorchester Square.

Two standing ovations erupted as the royal couple experienced a Canadiens game, sitting in a private box behind the Montreal bench as Maurice (Rocket) Richard scored a pair of goals.

They retired to a private estate in the Laurentians for a three-day vacation. On a snowy Sunday, Prince Philip drove Queen Elizabeth to church in Ste-Agathe, “skidding slightly as he manoeuvred over icy roads,” driving by cheering hordes, the Montreal Gazette reported.

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The Union Jacks were out again in Quebec City as thousands crowded outside the National Assembly while Premier Maurice Duplessis welcomed the couple to the National Assembly, and the Queen inspected soldiers on the Plains of Abraham.

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The royals briefly visited Quebec again in 1957. This time Elizabeth was Queen and Canada’s head of state.

The crowds were exuberant. About 3,000 people greeted the Queen and Prince Philip outside city hall in Gatineau, according to a Montreal Gazette report. “Some shouted two-language greetings like ‘Bonjour, Queen’ and ‘Welcome, ‘Madame la Reine.’ ”

In 1959, the Queen and Prince Philip returned to Quebec, this time for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Hundreds of thousands of Montrealers lined the streets as the royal couple took a 45-kilometre road tour of the city. “At some points, the throngs were so massive they threatened to break through protective cordons of police and military,” the Montreal Gazette reported.

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The royal receptions grew cooler after that.

A trip to Quebec City in the 1960s would be a turning point, one that is thought to have convinced the Queen to steer clear of the provincial capital for another 23 years.

As part of a cross-Canada tour in 1964, the Queen and Prince Philip landed in a Quebec where the Quiet Revolution was in full swing and nationalist fervour was at fever pitch. For some, at least, the Queen was the ultimate symbol of colonialism and persona non grata.

Security was extremely tight. A year earlier, the terrorist Front de Libération du Québec had planted bombs in federal armories and in mailboxes in Westmount, seriously injuring an army demolitions expert. In the U.S., an assassin had killed President John Kennedy.

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As soon as the Queen arrived in Quebec City, it became clear the visit would be unpleasant.

Few lined the streets as the royals drove to the National Assembly. The curious onlookers who did show up were subdued and far outnumbered by police and soldiers.

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And hundreds showed up to protest.

Chanting “Le Québec aux Québécois,” separatists rallied outside Quebec city hall, the National Assembly and the Château Frontenac.

Then all hell broke loose.

“At perhaps a dozen spots where demonstrators did not move on as fast as the police wished, the constables lashed out with their riot sticks,” Montreal Gazette reporter Bill Bantey wrote. “Mostly, the blows were on the small of the back, the buttocks and the legs. But in several cases I saw policemen hit people on the shoulders and across the chest.”

Among those clubbed by Quebec City police were Canadian and British reporters and photographers. Dozens were arrested in the dark episode, which became known as the Samedi de la matraque (Truncheon Saturday).

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Back in London, headlines deemed the reception insulting, humiliating and shameful.

Outraged by the paltry crowds, the Daily Mail reported: “It was without doubt the most massive, the most grievous insult ever offered the monarch.”

The protests were too much for the Daily Express. It called Quebec City “a city of shame,” adding: “This was a city that had let itself be bullied, bulldozed and blackmailed by a handful of thugs. The reception was silent, glum, glacial.”

The Queen and Prince Philip returned to Quebec on their next two trips to Canada, but stuck to Montreal.

In 1967, they attended Expo 67.

The Queen, who was fluent in French, delivered a bilingual speech. “Expo 67 is a fitting climax to Canada’s 100 years of progress and development, and Montreal, where the two main streams of Canada’s culture meet and mingle, is in every way an appropriate setting for this fantastic creation,” she said.

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In 1976, the Queen opened the Montreal Olympics. The royal couple attended some competitions; their daughter, Princess Anne, competed in equestrian events.

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The Queen’s final trip to Quebec, in 1987, included her only return visit to Quebec City after the 1964 debacle.

She and Prince Philip were greeted at Quebec City’s airport by an invitation-only welcoming party of 300, described by the Montreal Gazette as “subdued but enthusiastic — and largely English-speaking.”

Security was extraordinarily tight. Provincial police were stationed at every overpass along the 200-km route between Quebec City and Rivière-du-Loup. “Sharpshooters watched from rooftops and helicopters skimmed over farmers’ fields near the Trans-Canada Highway,” the Montreal Gazette reported.

The crowds were small. The largest was in Rivière-du-Loup, a city the Queen had briefly visited 36 years earlier as a princess. There, 3,500 people welcomed the royals by waving mini Fleur-de-lis and singing Gens du Pays.

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In Quebec City, there were protests, though far smaller than those of 1964.

“A smiling Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip managed to appear blithely unaware of the protesters and of the giant cardboard crown emblazoned with the words ‘le Canada, non merci,’” the Montreal Gazette reported. Other placards bore slogans: “God, keep the Queen” and “Elizabeth who?”

Only about 200 people were on hand to see the royals off at the airport.

The Queen made two more brief side trips to Quebec, crossing a bridge from Ottawa to Gatineau for events at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1992 and 2002. At the latter, she was greeted by about 100 separatist protesters heckling, yelling obscenities and waving Fleur-de-lis flags.

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Timeline: Prince Philip and Quebec

1951. Three months before being crowned queen, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip undertake a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. At Montreal’s Dorval Airport, they are met with a 21-gun salute, Mayor Camillien Houde and “a crowd of 20,000 pressing tightly against the wire fence facing the plane.” Thousands line Montreal streets as the couple take in the city by car and visit the chalet atop Mount Royal. The couple leave by train for the Maritimes, but not before whistle stops in St-Hyacinthe, Drummondville, Lévis, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski and Mont-Joli.

1954. The prince stops in Quebec City where he’s met by a 100-man guard of the Royal 22nd Regiment, a 21-gun salute and Premier Maurice Duplessis. “About 500 persons, many of them housewives and children, broke through the airport gate to get a close view of the Duke,” the Montreal Gazette reported.

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1957. The royal couple drive through crowd-lined streets from Ottawa to Gatineau.

1959. Queen Elizabeth and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower officially open the St. Lawrence Seaway in a ceremony near the lock in St-Lambert before a crowd of 20,000. The royal couple then board the Royal Yacht Britannia and set sail for Chicago.

1962. The prince gives a speech about industrialization at the Université de Montréal at which he describes Montreal as “the most eloquent example of the way people of two races, two languages and two religions can combine and co-operate to their mutual benefit in every activity of life.” At McGill University, he officially opens three new student residences.

1964. Small crowds and separatist protesters greet the Queen and Prince Philip in Quebec City.

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1967. In Canada to celebrate the country’s centenary, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attend Expo 67, staying at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Their visit to Expo includes an unscheduled 50-minute ride around the grounds on the mini-rail with Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, reportedly because Prince Philip complained security was too extreme at ground level.

1969. On a solo 15-day, 11-city tour of Canada, he briefly visits Montreal, including a stop at Cartierville Airport where he presents awards to 13 members of the Canadair Wing of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets.

1976. Queen Elizabeth opens the Montreal Olympics. Security is so rigid the army refuses to allow a provincial police honour guard onto the St-Hubert airport tarmac because the police officers don’t have the necessary credentials. The royals stay on the Royal Yacht Britannia, moored in Montreal harbour.

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1979. Prince Philip visits Montreal for an afternoon to promote an upcoming Commonwealth Study Conference, organized to “educate future leaders about the effects major decisions have on people’s lives,” the Montreal Gazette reports. He attends a luncheon at the Mount Royal Club on Sherbrooke St.

1987. The Queen and Prince Philip return to Quebec City. They visit the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the oldest Anglican cathedral outside the British Isles. And they are guests of honour at a state dinner in the National Assembly restaurant hosted by Premier Robert Bourassa, and at a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney at the Château Frontenac. The couple do not visit Montreal, but a small group of sovereignists hold a demonstration in Victoria Square, led by convicted FLQ terrorist Raymond Villeneuve. They shout “La reine aux anglais, le Québéc aux Québécois!”

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1989. Prince Philip visits Quebec on a solo tour, visiting Sherbrooke, Lennoxville and Compton in the Eastern Townships, as well as Hydro-Québec’s research laboratory in Varennes. In a speech to the Canadian Club in Montreal, he warns about the dangers of population growth, the poaching of endangered species and the over-exploitation of oceans and forests.

1990. With a royal trip to Gatineau for Canada Day festivities in the works, Parti Québécois leader Jacques Parizeau, an anglophile despite his fervent nationalism, urges separatists not to demonstrate, admitting he has a “soft spot” for the Queen that “goes back a long way.” But nationalist protesters show up nonetheless, turning their backs on the Queen’s motorcade as it drives by.

1992. The Queen is guest of honour at a Canada Day concert at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau to celebrate the country’s 125th birthday. The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir opens the show.

2002. Flag-waving nationalists protest as the royals arrive at a gala dinner at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.

ariga@postmedia.com