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After the morning’s military engagements, The Prince of Wales and
The Duchess of Cornwall took a little time to indulge in causes
that pertain to their personal interests.
After meeting military families and their support teams at the
Military Family Resource Centre, His Royal Highness received a
personal tour of the Halifax Public Gardens.
Filled with many exotic and
semi-tropical species, and an elaborate collection of ornate
Victorian garden artefacts (statues, urns, wrought iron gates, a
bandstand and elegant fountains), these Gardens represent one of
the finest surviving examples of Victorian Gardens in North
America.
Amidst its 140 species of trees, some as old as Confederation, the
16-acre national historical landmark provides a lush downtown
oasis. The heir to the throne made his contribution by planting a
small oak sapling in the noble shadow of a great oak tree planted
by his grandfather, King George VI in June 1939.
An avid gardener, The Prince experienced first-hand how valuable a
resource these Gardens are to the study of heritage plants and
landscape design.
The Duchess made her way across the harbour to Dartmouth meanwhile,
for a private visit with families, supporters and partners of Alice
Housing, a home which provides shelter and counselling to women and
children victimised by domestic abuse. With 18 units, Alice Housing
is one of the largest and oldest housing organizations of this type
in Canada, and the largest in Atlantic Canada.
The royal couple later met up at the Halifax Seaport
Farmers’Market, for an engagement which brilliantly encapsulated
their passions for organic gardening, healthy eating and
sustainable living.
On a walkabout through the longest running market in North America,
The Prince and The Duchess met with some of the market’s over 250
innovative and unique vendors, including a multigenerational
artisan business; sustainable farmers from Noggins Corner Farm;
nationally celebrated youth entrepreneurs, Hope Blooms;
entertaining butchers at Getaway Farms; and raw food bar and vegan
grocer, Fruition.
A key feature of the market is its ecological design which employs
sustainable design principles to minimize energy use through such
renewable energy sources as wind, solar and ocean cooling.
Finally, the Royal Couple ended their ultra-busy morning
interacting with war brides and Second World War veterans at Pier
21, from where over half a million military personnel departed for
the war.
The high number of wartime romances prompted the federal government
to provide new spouses with transportation to Canada and
information about their adopted country.
The Canadian Museum of Immigration provided the ideal venue for the
luncheon, as approximately 44,000 women, mostly from Great Britain,
along with 22,000 children, landed here at Pier 21 between 1942 and
1948, as wives of Canadian servicemen stationed abroad during World
War II. In the succeeding generation, the war brides collectively
strengthened many Canadians’s emotional links with Britain.
The Museum, which is the only national museum in Atlantic Canada,
is the only one of its kind, showcasing the vital role immigration
has played in building the nation, and the contributions immigrants
have made to Canada’s culture, economy and way of life.
This concludes the Halifax leg of the royal tour in Canada. Please
keep an eye on Royal Central for more coverage on the tour as it
moves on to Pictou for a celebration of Canada’s Celtic roots. See
us also on Facebook and Twitter @RoyalCentral and #TRHCanada.
photo credits: Paul B. (Halifax), The Great Photographicon
via photopin cc and with thanks to The
Department of Canadian Heritage]]>
