Queen reviews flotilla of international warships in eastern Canada
By APTuesday, June 29, 2010
Queen reviews warships in eastern Canada
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — As navy officials played the Canadian national anthem, Queen Elizabeth II received a royal salute Tuesday before reviewing an international flotilla of coast guard vessels and warships as part of the Canadian navy’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
The Queen was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on her second day of a nine-day visit to Canada, where she is the symbolic head of state. The 84-year-old monarch is visiting with her husband Prince Philip.
Her majesty, who wore a blue straw hat wrapped in a band of white ribbon with a white silk coat with blue bows on the sleeves and pockets over a white dress, attended an official luncheon at Canadian Forces Base Halifax before the fleet inspection. The Queen also wore a white bow-shaped brooch, set in blue sapphires and diamonds, that belonged to the Queen Mother.
The fleet inspection included 28 international coast guard vessels and warships — including the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the USS Wasp, an imposing American assault ship, and the submarine HMCS Corner Brook.
Princess Margaret conducted the first fleet review in Canada in July 1958 to mark British Columbia’s centenary. Queen Elizabeth reviewed 30 ships and submarines of the Royal Canadian Navy in Halifax harbor later in 1959. Fleet reviews were originally done as a show of military strength.
After the review, the Queen unveiled a plaque to mark the importance of HMCS Sackville, the last of 120 Royal Canadian Navy corvettes that served during the Second World War. The small ship played a key role in protecting convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the longest campaigns of the war.
The Queen, whose silhouette marks Canadian coins, also unveiled a newly minted $1 Canadian coin Tuesday with a Halifax-class frigate on it.
She last visited Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies, in 2005.
She will be on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on July 1, Canada Day, for celebrations of the country’s 143rd birthday.
Though Canadians are somewhat indifferent to the monarchy, most have great affection for the Queen.
The trip ends on July 6 in Toronto and when it’s over the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, will also have made stops in Winnipeg and Waterloo, Ontario, where they planned to visit the headquarters of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion.
