In Pictures: Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their 1951 royal tour of Canada. Image from BiblioArchives/LibraryArchives.

Elizabeth II does not only reign as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but also as Queen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

She has visited Canada many times more than any other country in the world. Her first official visit was as Duchess of Edinburgh in 1951. Accompanied by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, the heiress presumptive to the throne toured Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta, on behalf of her ailing father, George VI, who would die in February the next year. The National Film Board of Canada documented this  five-week journey and released it in December 1951.

Residents welcome Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on their visit to Amherst, Nova Scotia. Image from Library and Archives Canada.

In February 1952, she succeeded her father and reigned as Elizabeth II. In  November 1953, accompanied again by the Duke of Edinburgh, she embarked on the World Commonwealth Tour, her longest and most extensive, which took her to West Indies, Australia, Asia, Africa, and Gibraltar. Canada, however, was not in the itinerary, although she made a stopover before she proceeded to Panama. It was not until 1957 when she made her first trip to Canada as the country’s head of state. In this visit, she appointed the Duke of Edinburgh into the Canadian Privy Council and, on October 14, she opened the first session of the 23rd Parliament. This historic event attracted more than 50,000 people to Parliament Hill who wanted to have a glimpse of their monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh after laying a wreath on the National War Memorial in Ottawa, 1957. Image from BiblioArchives Canada

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh during the Privy Council at Government House, Oct. 14, 1957. Image from Library and Archives Canada

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip greeting RCMP officers . Image from Library Archives Canada

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip leaving Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, October 1957. Image from BiblioArchives/LibraryArchives.

She made another trip to Canada in 1959, her longest and most extensive visit of the realm, where she toured every province and territory of the country. Among the highlights of this tour included the official opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, together with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In Prescott, Ontario, she made her first live appearance on Canadian television.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip standing in car waving during royal visit to Canada in 1959.  Image from Flickr

In her capacity as Queen of Canada, she visited the United States accompanied by a Canadian Cabinet minister.  Prime Minister John Diefenbacker insisted that the details of the queen's visit to the United States should be arranged by the Canadian embassy and not by the British envoys. Even her speeches in Chicago were prepared by the Canadian ministers, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that she came to the United States  as Queen of Canada. A highlight of the visit was hosting return-dinner for President Eisenhower at the Canadian Embassy in Washington  (Check this article).

The Queen, Secretary of State Judy LaMarsh and Prince Philip watching a children’s folk concert  during the Centennial Celebrations in Ottawa, July, 1967. Image from Ross Dunn/Flickr

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip and Brownies in Burnaby, BC, c1971. Image from Girl Guides of Canada 

Queen Elizabeth II at Queen's Park, c2010.  Image from Wikimedia Commons

The success of the the queen's trip would be followed by more visits to her Canadian realms. She would head to Canada to attend milestone occasions, such as centenary of British Columbia's entry into the Confederation (1971), the 1976 Olympic Games (1976), New Brunswick's bicentennial (1984), the opening of the University of British Columbia (1994), her Golden Jubilee (2002), Alberta's 100th anniversary of entry into the Confederation (2005), and the 2010 Royal Tour of Canada.