Now You Know Royalty. Doug Lennox
• that Georgian Bay in Ontario was named after King George IV?
What does “True North” mean in the English version of the anthem “O Canada”?
“True North” was borrowed from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem in which he refers to Canada as “That True North whereof we lately heard” in reference to its loyalty to Queen Victoria. It does not mean the North Pole or the real north, implying that the northern lands of other countries are false. It is the use of true in its other context of meaning loyal or faithful, as, for example, lovers are described as “true to each other.” The line of the anthem is describing Canada as loyal to the Crown: “We see thee rise / The True North strong and free.”
Quickies
Did you know …
• that Coronation Gulf in the Northwest Territories was named in honour of George IV’s coronation in 1821?
Named After Elizabeth II in Canada
•Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal
•Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver
•The Queensway, Ottawa
•Place Reine Elizabeth II, Trois-Rivières
•Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edmonton
•Queen Elizabeth Building, Toronto
•Queen Elizabeth II Park, Windsor
•Queen Elizabeth Island, Northwest Territories
•Queen Elizabeth II Court, Regina
•Queen Elizabeth II Canadian Fund to Aid in Research on the Diseases of Children
•Parc Reine Elizabeth II, LaPocatière
•Queen Elizabeth School, Perth
•Golden Jubilee Park, Haliburton
•Queen Elizabeth Ranges, Alberta
•Queen Elizabeth Planetarium, Edmonton
•Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Winnipeg
•Queen Elizabeth Foreland, Northwest Territories
•Queen Elizabeth II Admission Scholarships
•Queen Elizabeth II Cup for show jumping
•Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee EndowmentFund
What Canadian post-nominals does Elizabeth II have the right to?
Her Majesty has the right to the letters U.E., which stand for Unity of the Empire. In 1789, the governor general, Lord Dorchester, decreed that Loyalists from the American Revolution who had “adhered to the unity of the empire and joined the royal standard in America, before the treaty of separation in the year 1783” would be entitled to a “Mark of Honour” and could designate themselves “United Empire Loyalists.” Queen Elizabeth II is descended from two Loyalists, one on her mother’s side and the other on her father’s, and could designate herself “U.E.” if she so wished.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that Crown Royal whisky was created by Seagram’s to mark the 1939 tour of Canada by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth?
Quickies
Did you know …
• that Canada is the only country to have two capitals named after Queen Victoria — Victoria, British Columbia, and Regina (“Queen”), Saskatchewan?
What are the words of the Loyal Toast?
The only proper words for the Loyal Toast are “The Queen.” Some Canadians like to say “The Queen of Canada” to emphasize the Canadian status of the queen, but correctly one only mentions a country if it is a monarch foreign to the person proposing the toast. Thus, only a foreigner should toast “The Queen of Canada.”
What are royal warrant holders?
They are companies that supply goods and services to Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, or the Prince of Wales, and have been granted the honour as formal recognition of the fact. Having achieved the status they can display on their products “By Appointment to …”
Quickies
Did you know …
• that the capitals of five Canadian provinces are, or were, named after royalty — Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Fredericton, New Brunswick; Toronto (formerly York), Ontario; Regina, Saskatchewan; and Victoria, British Columbia?
What is “dontopedalogy”?
The term was used by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to describe the science of “firmly implanting one’s foot in one’s mouth.”
Mnemonic Sequence of English/ British/Commonwealth Monarchs
Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry, three;
One, two, three Neds, Richard two,
Harrys four, five, six … then who?
Edwards four, five, Dick the bad,
Harrys twain and Ned the Lad;
Mary, Bessie, James the Vain,
Charlie, Charlie, James again …
William and Mary, Anna Gloria,
Four Georges, William and Victoria;
Edward seven next, and then
George the fifth in 1910;
Ned the eighth soon abdicated
Then George the sixth was coronated;
After which Elizabeth
And that’s the end until her death.
What are the most common misconceptions about monarchy?
1) That Canada has ties with the monarchy. Canada does not just have ties, it is a monarchy itself. 2) That Canadians send money to Queen Elizabeth II in England. Her Majesty receives no money whatever from Canadians and never has. Expenses entailed by the monarchy are all connected with public duties and ceremonies such as tours and executive acts. 3) That Her Majesty represents the Crown. It is the other way round. A symbol represents a person, not vice versa. 4) That the king gave up the exercise of all royal powers in Canada by the Letters Patent of 1947 reconstituting the office of governor general. The St. Laurent/Diefenbaker governments got the queen to open Parliament in 1957 as did the Trudeau government in 1977. 5) That the Crown is not only the monarch but “a team of governors.” The Crown is defined by the Interpretation Act as being Her Majesty the Queen or His Majesty the King as the case may be. The “team of governors” is a political science description of how the Crown works and has no basis in law.
Countries Elizabeth II Crowned Queen of in 1953
• Australia
• Canada
•