Prince Charles and Camilla to visit Northwest Territories
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will visit the Northwest Territories next month to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
The platinum jubilee commemorates 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in February 1952. Charles, the Prince of Wales, is the Queen’s eldest son.
An announcement that Charles and wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will visit Canada in May this year was made on the pair’s website on Monday.
Advertisement.
“The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will meet local communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s capital region, and the Northwest Territories,” that announcement stated.
Further details will be announced “in due course,” the website added. In a subsequent tweet, Clarence House – the official residence of the Prince of Wales – suggested Yellowknife would be on the itinerary, though that tweet was later deleted and replaced by one that simply states the Northwest Territories as a whole.
In a short written statement on Monday, NWT Premier Caroline Cochrane said the territory was “honoured” that Charles and Camilla would visit.
“This visit will provide an opportunity for northerners to demonstrate their unmatched hospitality and to showcase for the world the rich and diverse cultures, languages, and traditions of our territory,” Cochrane said.
Charles has visited the Northwest Territories three times but not since 1979. Yellowknife’s Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is named in his honour, though lately there has been agreement among politicians that the time has come for the name to change.
Advertisement.
The Prince of Wales’ forthcoming visit might help clear up the matter of how to broach that delicate subject.
“One of the things we have wanted to look into is whether a name change for the facility would trigger any issues with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales from a protocol perspective,” said John MacDonald, assistant deputy minister at the time, during a discussion about the museum’s name in early 2020.
“We are still in the research stage, to try to understand what that would entail and who to actually speak to.”
Reacting to news of Charles’ trip on Monday, Yellowknife North MLA Rylund Johnson said on Twitter: “I’m gonna ask him whether he can chip in for the renovations to his museum.”
Advertisement.
The NWT has not had a royal visit since William and Kate toured several communities in 2011.
The Queen’s last tour of Canada came in 2010. She has visited the NWT twice, in 1970 and 1994.