Ottawa remembers Canada’s queen

Article content material

Information of the Queen’s demise was greeted sombrely and reverently by monarchists in Ottawa, a metropolis she toured 13 instances throughout her 70-year reign as Canada’s Head of State.

Article content material

“It’s a really, very unhappy day,” stated Beatrice Ross, a member of the Monarchists League of Canada.

Article content material

“She served her nation. She stated she would serve it so long as she lived. She was so devoted. There’ll by no means be anybody like her,” stated Ross from her Rockcliffe retirement dwelling.

“She was so devoted to tackle that duty. She did it with such grace and knowledge. She’ll by no means get replaced.”

Flags within the metropolis will fly at half-mast till sundown on the day of the Queen’s funeral, which has but to be introduced. A ebook of condolences shall be obtainable to signal at Jean Pigott Place in metropolis corridor Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to five:30 p.m. till the funeral.

The Queen made 22 official visits to Canada, with the primary in 1957 and the final in 2010.

Article content material

Former Ottawa Citizen reporter Chris Cobb, a member of the Commonwealth Journalists Affiliation, remembers overlaying one go to and assembly the Queen and Prince Philip in an off-the-cuff, off-the report ice-breaker at Rideau Corridor. The Queen started speaking about how one in all her race horses had been unfairly nudged at a race in Paris.

“The dialog went on for about quarter-hour,” Cobb recalled. “She appeared so relaxed, very chatty, very nice and really good-humoured.”

In the meantime, Cobb may see the Queen’s handlers behind her, gesturing for them to finish the dialog. “But it surely was her protecting it going,” Cobb stated. “We weren’t egging her on.”

Cobb counts himself as one in all Elizabeth’s admirers.

“She served her nation and the Commonwealth so properly,” he stated. “Nobody can doubt that. From the day she took the job and below these circumstances. Taking all that on at such a younger age and sustaining it for on a regular basis is fairly superb.”

Article content material

Shannon Lewis, 30, a highschool instructor, travelled downtown to put a bouquet of white roses on the steps of the British Excessive Fee on Elgin Road on Thursday afternoon.

“I’ve so many feelings, and I wished to do one thing, despite the fact that it’s not a lot,” she stated.

“I’m simply devastated, despite the fact that all of us knew it was coming.”

By supper time, a dozen bouquets lay on the steps.

Lewis stated she and her mom have been each “enormous royal followers” and had adopted the household for years.

As a younger little one, Lewis remembers her mom pulling over to the aspect of the street whereas driving when information broke of the demise of Princess Diana in 1997.

When she was in college, Lewis hosted a nighttime  celebration with finger sandwiches and tea to observe the televised marriage ceremony of William and Kate.

Article content material

However the queen held a particular place in her coronary heart, she stated.

“She was so unfailing in her responsibility. She knew what she needed to do, and she or he did it. She was so dependable. And who she was by no means modified.”

A photograph of Queen Elizabeth hangs in her workplace, Lewis stated.

“It jogs my memory to get again to work. I really feel her displeasure if I get distracted.”

Few Canadians knew the Queen in addition to Kevin MacLeod, her Canadian Secretary and one time Usher of the Black Rod for the Senate.

MacLeod was too upset to speak about her demise Thursday — “I don’t suppose I may get by way of it,” he stated — however spoke to this newspaper in regards to the monarchy and its position earlier this yr when Charles, then Prince of Wales, visited the capital.

Article content material

“The transition shall be seamless and extra importantly, it will likely be instantaneous,” MacLeod stated. “Subsequently, the expression, ‘The Queen is useless! Lengthy stay the King!” is legitimate.

“However this is without doubt one of the enduring strengths of the Crown: Continuity. There isn’t a break. Tlisted below are only a few nations on the earth that may say we’ve got a political establishment that goes again to the Magna Carta, that flows by way of historical past however continues to evolve and alter and preserve tempo with society.”

MacLeod, who because the Queen’s secretary was essentially the most senior member of the Royal Family in Canada, performed an element in organizing each royal go to since 1987. He and his staff have been behind the Queen’s look at a Vancouver Canucks hockey recreation in 2002, when she dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff. In 2009, he even had a personal viewers with the Queen whereas visiting Buckingham Palace with former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Article content material

His respect and admiration has continued to today. He says the monarchy stays an important and almost inseparable a part of our authorities.

“The Crown that exists at present is kind of totally different from the Crown that existed 100 or 200 years in the past,” he stated. “And, certainly, the Crown of Canada is kind of totally different from the Crown of the UK. She takes her position right here fairly individually and fairly distinctly.”

For instance, MacLeod cites a dispute in 1973, when then British prime minister Edward Heath ended Britain’s arms embargo towards South Africa. The transfer prompted outrage amongst the Commonwealth and occurred on the eve of a Commonwealth assembly in Canada.

“Heath informed the Queen, ‘My suggestion to you is that you just not go to Ottawa.’ And what did the Queen do? She picked up the cellphone and known as Pierre Trudeau and stated, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, as Queen of Canada, I would like your suggestion.’ And the prime minister stated, ‘You ought to be right here as Queen of Canada.’ And that’s exactly what she did to the purpose of embarrassing Edward Heath.”

Article content material

Although polls have proven Canadians’ assist for the monarchy is in decline, MacLeod says it’s so intrinsic to Canada’s parliamentary system that it could be virtually unattainable to interrupt that tie. Whereas the governor basic is King Charles’ viceroy on the federal degree, there are 11 provincial and territorial lieutenant-governors appointed by the Crown.

“Do you suppose for one second, given the character of the federation and regionalism, that the provinces are going to surrender a key place of their system of presidency?” he requested.

The Queen performed a singular position in modern historical past and got here to signify the “archetype of ladies’s management,” stated sociologist and College of Ottawa professor emeritus Diane Pacom. 

Article content material

“We’re not solely mourning this excellent girl, and a particularly profitable and complicated girl… It’s the tip of an period. That’s how I really feel,” Pacom stated.  “She was the embodiment of this idea of royals. And he or she lived it with all her strengths and all her magnificence. She was a righteous human being —  and in politics that’s very uncommon.” 

She “took the duty of protecting the royal custom alive” in an ever-shifting fashionable period, Pacom stated.

“She was very younger when she grew to become Queen and that was in a context the place kings and queens and the thought of royalty was dropping its energy in society. And but she succeeded to maintain this custom, this political and social custom alive all through her life.

“She was every part. She was in some ways encapsulating the entire hopes and needs of ladies all over the world — she was fairly, clever, in love, highly effective — she was so robust, targeted on what she wished to do. And he or she was glad. She was a cheerful human being, and in politics, attempt to discover anybody else who’s that glad for thus lengthy.”

With information from Jacquie Miller and Aedan Helmer