Royal Spectacle

British royals at home with the empire

“…74 Victoria had been invited to Canada several times in the 1850s, a prospect that she considered to be impossible. 75 She proposed that once the Prince of Wales was old enough, he would visit Canada. 76 As was the case during the Duke of Cornwall's royal tour forty years later, it was intended to thank colonials for their contributions to an imperial war effort, in this case the Crimean War.…”

“…76 As was the case during the Duke of Cornwall's royal tour forty years later, it was intended to thank colonials for their contributions to an imperial war effort, in this case the Crimean War. 77 Moreover, the idea of the heir to the throne inaugurating the new Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River, one of the Victorian era's greatest engineering marvels, as his younger brother across the Atlantic tipped the first truck of stone into Table Bay built on much of the ideological work Albert had done as the Prince Consort -to connect the monarchy to notions of progress.…”

“Toronto Has No History!” Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, and Historical Memory in Canada’s Largest City

“…They argued that Indian grievances in their petitions to the Duke of Newcastle had not been addressed because the now-civilized Indians had been paraded around as savages. 121 But in 1884, these concerns appear to have disappeared; a white Montreal dentist, George Beers, had "civilized" and standardized the game in 1867, and it had become popular across the country. "Long, long after the romantic 'sons of the forest' have passed away," Beers wrote in Lacrosse (1869), "long, long after their sun sinks in the west to rise no more, Lacrosse will remind the pale-faces of Canada of the noble Indians that once ruled over this continent."…”