From the
Belleville Intelligencer:
Royal visit thrills Hasty Ps
By Jeremy Ashley and Luke Hendry
Local News - Monday, June 06, 2005 @ 10:00
Prince Edward speaks with an air force veteran after laying a wreath at the cenotaph.
Photo by Luke Hendry
Royalty walked the red carpet in Belleville, Saturday.
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, spent the day in the Quinte area. It was his first visit to the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, known as the Hasty Ps, after accepting the role of its colonel-in-chief in the spring of 2004.
The trip had been planned with only regimental functions in mind, but the regiment’s commanding officer said the prince didn’t mind adding a public event to his itinerary.
“He was very receptive to changing his plans to meet the community,” Lt. Col. Ray McGill said.
The only public stop of his local tour was a noon ceremony at Station Street’s Memorial Park to honour local war veterans.
A fleet of jet-black Lincoln Town Cars pulled off of Station Street onto Cannifton Parkway, looped around the cenotaph and back onto the street at the east end of the park around 10:45 a.m.
As he emerged, he was greeted by Mayor Mary-Anne Sills, who walked the prince down a roped-off aisle to the foot of the cenotaph as the Army, Navy and Air Force pipe and drum band played.
During the ceremony, Prince Edward, the mayor, and Don MacPherson, president of Branch 99 of the Royal Canadian Legion, each laid a wreath at the foot of the cenotaph.
Making special reference to 2005 being declared the Year of the Veteran, he applauded the efforts of Canadian veterans, adding he was “delighted” to be in Belleville.
“In this, the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, we certainly owe a great debt of gratitude to the enormous support that Canada gave us,” he said in his brief remarks. “There have been several other times when Canada has come to the aid of Great Britain … We certainly think of you in all of those campaigns.”
The prince does not normally consent to media interviews.
As the official part of the ceremony ended around noon, Prince Edward spent about 30 minutes mingling with people in a VIP section, including a number of political dignitaries from all levels of government, municipal officials and — most poignantly — local veterans. He was escorted by Sills, MacPherson, and Capt. Sam Pengelly, aide-de-camp of the Hasty Ps.
For close to 20 minutes, the Prince met nearly all of the veterans on hand and appeared in no rush, asking them about their wartime service.
“He was extremely personal and spent a lot of time with the veterans,” said Sills, who escorted the Prince through the crowd. “...getting them to tell where and when they’d served and what unit they were in, and was very interested.
“He’s a very regular-type person who happens to have a very regal title.”
“This is the best thing that has ever happened for Belleville and the veterans,” said an enthusiastic MacPherson. “This is an honour and a privilege to have the prince here. The veterans are very happy and very pleased to see him.
“Not only is this year, 2005, the Year of the Veteran, but every year should be, because they’re the ones who gave us our freedom,” said the Legion president.
Veteran Bob Wigmore of Belleville is one of the most active ex-soldiers in the unit’s regimental association, and was part of the ceremony’s colour party.
He said the prince was “a gentleman, very casual.”
Local veterans, he added, “are impressed by him. I think it will be good for the regiment.”
“Canadians tend to think we don’t need royalty anymore,” Wigmore said. “After seeing him … I think we should keep those ties. We need our history, and that’s part of our history.”
After a private lunch, Prince Edward spent the afternoon in his role as colonel-in-chief of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, leading a rare inspection of the ranks of hundreds of female and male army cadets from Belleville to Haliburton at Memorial Arena. Seven of eight corps were present.
“I am most impressed with the number of cadets who have turned out on parade,” said Prince Edward, thanking them for the chance to inspect them. “Congratulations … I hope your skills will serve you well wherever life takes you from here.”
“The typical image of someone like this — that it’s just another field trip for them — it wasn’t like that at all,” said Warrant Officer Jannette White, 17, of Peterborough. “He seemed like he wanted to get one-on-one with cadets.”
“He thought we did a really great job,” agreed Chief Warrant Officer Jennifer DeMille, 18, of Belleville.
She served as regimental sergeant-major, a role that required her to work as a liaison between the prince and cadets, and accompany him around the arena.
After months of organizing, the regiment’s senior officers were elated not only by the colonel-in-chief’s visit, but for its unifying effect on its cadet corps.
“The regiment is truly honoured,” said McGill, who added the day full of meetings with the prince and military demonstrations had a unifying effect on the regiment and boosted morale.
Prince Edward spent the rest of his afternoon with the regiment’s reserve members at the Batawa property of Hon. Col. Thomas Bata, founder of the Bata shoe company. Reservists were to meet the prince and stage a mock attack demonstration.
The prince’s Canadian tour was to stop in Peterborough Sunday.