Royal Couple to Attend Calgary Stampede on Canada Tour

William and Kate will visit Canada in June/July for their first overseas trip together.
Royal Couple to Attend Calgary Stampede on Canada Tour
Prince William and his wife, Kate, walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace in London before departing for their honeymoon on April 30. The couple will visit Canada in June for their first overseas trip together. (John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images)
6/1/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/113285721.jpg" alt="Prince William and his wife, Kate, walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace in London before departing for their honeymoon on April 30. The couple will visit Canada in June for their first overseas trip together. (John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Prince William and his wife, Kate, walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace in London before departing for their honeymoon on April 30. The couple will visit Canada in June for their first overseas trip together. (John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1803291"/></a>
Prince William and his wife, Kate, walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace in London before departing for their honeymoon on April 30. The couple will visit Canada in June for their first overseas trip together. (John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images)

The Calgary Stampede will be graced by the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Canada in July, it was announced Monday.

The royal couple will celebrate Canada Day in Ottawa before moving on to other official stops including Quebec City; Montreal; Summerside, P.E.I; Charlottetown, N.S.; and Yellowknife.

William and Kate chose Canada for their first official overseas trip together and will tour the country from June 30 - July 8, notably bypassing Toronto and Vancouver.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper first formally extended an invitation to the couple upon the announcement of their engagement last November.

“It would be an honour to welcome Prince William and his bride to Canada in the future and show them the special warmth and cherished traditions that are reserved for members of the Royal Family,” Harper said in a statement.

“Prince William was pleased to accept an invitation on his and Miss Middleton’s behalf from the government of Canada,” a spokesman for St James’s Palace said.

“Prince William was keen to be able to visit Canada for himself as an adult, and to be able to show his wife a country that is close to his family’s heart.”

William last visited Canada in 1998 on a private holiday in Whistler, B.C., with the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry. It will be Kate’s first visit to the country.

The event is guaranteed to be a media spectacle, with over 85 U.K.-based journalists registered to fly in to follow the affair—almost five times more reporters than the Queen drew on her visit last year.

Heritage Minister James Moore said the tour will cost less than the Queen’s $2 million visit, due to William and Kate’s commitment to attending existing pre-scheduled events.

“Hosting the duke and duchess is an honour for Canada and we look forward to having them visit all of these different regions,” Moore told a news conference in Calgary Monday.

“This is part of what nation building is all about—hosting these kinds of events.”

However, some are not exactly thrilled about such “nation building.” Separatist groups Réseau de résistance du Québecois (RRS) and Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste announced they are planning to stage a protest rally and demonstration in Quebec City during the royal visit.

RRS said on its website that it hopes to make the event “as disagreeable as possible,” calling the monarchy “outdated and undemocratic.”

The group, which has a history of opposing the monarchy, also demonstrated during a 2009 visit by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. In 1964, confrontations turned violent when Quebec City police battled with separatist demonstrators during a visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Quebec politician Amir Khadir leader of the left-wing party Quebec solidaire, sparked controversy on Tuesday when he referred to the newlywed royal couple as “parasites” and a “waste of public money.”

The duke and duchess will follow up their summer trip to Canada with a two-day visit to Hollywood, Calif., from July 8 - 10.