Royal Visits and Special Events

With its long history as a significant naval port and military garrison for the strategic defence of British North America, it is only natural that Halifax has been a stopping-off point on various royal itineraries over the years. In 1786 and 1787, Prince William Henry (later King William IV), then captain of HMS Pegasus, called in port on several occasions. During the 1790s, his brother HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, came to the city as Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces — bringing with him his mistress, Madame St. Laurent, who both charmed and mortified the local gentry, some of whom refused to attend gatherings where she would be present.

The duke's grandson, HRH Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, visited the Garrison City in 1860; Phyllis R. Blakeley described this event in her book, Glimpses of Halifax 1867-1900:

Day after day the future King Edward VII received addresses and read replies, reviewed volunteer troops, drove through cheering crowds on streets bedecked with bunting, held levees and attended dances and luncheons.... The streets and gutters had been swept until there 'was not a dead cat, a broken bottle, or an old boot to be seen. Even the dirty pieces of paper, the favorite embellishment of our sidewalks and gutters, especially in the upper streets, had vanished from the nonce.'

Indeed, no dead cats, broken bottles or old boots can be seen in the photographic record of the visit, one of the earliest surviving examples of outdoor photography produced in the city.

HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and later the Governor-General of Canada (1911-16), stopped off in the city in 1869. His sister, Princess Louise, was the first female member of the Royal Family to visit Halifax; she accompanied her husband, the Marquess of Lorne, who in 1878 took the oath of office as Governor-General of Canada, in the city. The most memorable Royal Visits of this century have been those of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939; HRH Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1951; and HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1983.

Other notable visitors have also drawn large crowds to the old port city over the years. In September 1984, Pope John Paul II visited Halifax and celebrated an outdoor mass on the Central Commons. And the eyes of the world were on the city in June 1995 when the leaders of the industrialized nations held their annual G-7 (21^st) Economic Summit in Halifax, using the waterfront as backdrop.