With each whistlestop meticulously arranged, each event carefully considered, the message sent in the royal tour's final stop looms large – Calgary is, ever more, a hub of Canadian influence.
The royal couple arrived Thursday afternoon in the city for the final two days of their Canadian tour. And, over the complaints of British animal activists, they came during the Calgary Stampede, a cherished tradition that one poll Thursday showed was Canada's most popular major event, beating the Grey Cup and Toronto International Film Festival.
As the couple arrived, Calgary's streets were already flooded with boots, hats and denim. William and Kate quickly got into the festivities.
Wearing jeans and white cowboy hats, they trailed a procession into a Stampede gala dinner Thursday evening while riding in a carriage pulled by four horses. They watched a bull-riding demonstration and Will tried his hand at loading a chuckwagon before heading inside to listen to live country music and watch two-stepping.
"Well, this is different," he said when he took the stage a short while later.
In his final address of their country-wide tour, he had praise for Canada's broad heritage, its military efforts, its kindness and its significance to other members of the Royal family.
“We have been hugely struck by the diversity of this beautiful country: from Ottawa to Quebec; from Prince Edward Island to the Northwest Territories; and now the excitement of Calgary," he said, before moving off his pre-written script: "And what about these fantastic white hats?”
The crowd cheered, and did several times, including when William praised the work of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and when cabinet minister James Moore thanked the couple for visiting the fire-ravaged Alberta city of Slave Lake a day earlier.
"We are intensely proud of their (soldiers') sacrifices and immensely grateful. Catherine and I are also full of admiration for the tremendous courage and resilience of the people we met yesterday at Slave Lake, as they rebuild their lives after the devastating fire," the Duke said.
The Stampede itself, the cowboy culture it evokes and the wide-open terrain of the region were all themes tied strongly to the royal schedule, one that didn't include visits to either the British Columbia Lower Mainland or the Greater Toronto Area. Calgary brands itself the Heart of the New West, a sentiment evoked by Prime Minister (and Calgarian) Stephen Harper in his speech to the couple Thursday evening.
“There’s a lot going on here. You may suppose from what you see around you that this is cowboy country. So it is,” Mr. Harper said. “But Alberta has also become an economic engine of Confederation."
Mr. Harper thanked the couple for visiting Canada in their first international trip since their marriage. Canadians, the Prime Minister said, will be forever grateful.
"We haven’t seen a love-in like that since the first visit of the Beatles," he said, adding: "By the time you reached Yellowknife and joined a hockey game, it was clear for all to see that you have all the makings of true Canadians."
Calgary-born country singer Paul Brandt performed for the couple Thursday evening. He said the visit was significant for his hometown.
“I think it's a bit of a well-kept secret and all of the sudden, it's hard to keep it any more. So I think that possibly, in some ways, this is a really exciting coming of age for the city, and I couldn't be more proud to be from here,” he said.
