Sixteen years ago, Prince Philip stood before a tiny church in Alberta
DUKE BROUGHT GRACE, HUMOUR TO CANADA TOURS
THE PUBLIC IMAGE THAT CERTAIN PARTS OF THE MEDIA WOULD PORTRAY WAS ALWAYS AN UNFAIR DEPICTION ... HE WAS ALWAYS ABLE TO MANAGE INTERVIEWS AND SAY THINGS THAT THE REST OF US ALWAYS DREAMED WE COULD SAY. HE WAS BRILLIANT. — PRINCE EDWARD
HE SPOKE WITH HUMILITY AND MOST OF ALL, (WAS) SINCERE.
In May 2005, Prince Philip stood before the Sunday congregation in the tiny St. Mary and St. George Anglican Church in Jasper, Alta., and read a passage from 2 Corinthians. Sitting in the pews, two rows back from Queen Elizabeth II, was William Thompson, from Grande Cache, Alta., who had arranged the flowers adorning the church.
“The most impressive memory I have is when he did one of the Bible readings. It was like, that's my monarch's husband, reading it,” Thompson remembered. “I felt very humble to be a part of that that day.”
The Duke of Edinburgh once quipped that he and the Queen "don't come to Canada for our health. We can think of other ways of enjoying ourselves.” The 2005 visit was just one of many visits — dozens — Prince Philip made to the country, alongside Queen Elizabeth II and solo, spending time in Jasper, Rideau Hall, at football games and many places in between.
Thompson, reached by phone, pulled out the program of service that day. The verse Prince Philip read was 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13. A “very tall man,” Thompson recalled, a “gruff looking man,” and dressed in a suit, like anyone's father would be when attending church on Sunday.
“He was stern, he had this very strong monarch look to him, and yet, when he was reading it, he was very humbled, and I think the whole congregation felt humbled,” Thompson said. “He spoke with humility and most of all, (was) sincere.”
The verse is haunting now, while the Commonwealth mourns the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at age 99.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell,” the verse begins. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
David Prowse, who was the reverend at St. Mary and St. George Anglican Church at the time, told the National Post that he and Bishop Victoria Matthews met the Queen and her consort at their vehicle, and escorted them to the church. Outside, hundreds had gathered, inside the church 150 waited — and Prince Philip's famed humour was in attendance.
Prince Philip was wellknown for being a bit of a rogue, with his outspoken, humorous, even scandalous remarks regularly making the newspapers.
“As we are walking towards the church, the congregation is beginning to sing, it's Trinity Sunday, they're singing Hymn No. 1, Holy, Holy Holy!” said Prowse. “He turns to me and he says 'Oh, your typical Sunday morning congregation.' "
Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, in May 2005, were visiting Canada to mark the centennial of Alberta and Saskatchewan joining Confederation. It was a dreary trip, raining constantly. While at a blustery event at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, then-premier Ralph Klein's umbrella, being well into losing its battle against the wind, came dangerously close to knocking the Queen's hat off while she observed a cake.
But the royals caught a break in Jasper: When the service was over, they went back outdoors, and had a walkabout. Prince Philip, Prowse recalled, chatted to the people waiting.
“I'm sure this was the only nice weather they had on their entire visit to Saskatchewan and Alberta. The sun came out and it was very bright,” Prowse said.
Josh Traptow, with the Monarchist League of Canada, said Philip always had strong links with Canada, whether it was through wildlife conservation work, the military or the Duke of Edinburgh awards.
“He's had a long relationship with Canada,” said Traptow. “I think every time him and the Queen came to Canada, or when he was here on solo trips, I think it very much felt like they were home.”
They two top royals were here for an astonishing array of trips, from mundane occasions, such as the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, to the consequential, such as the 1982 signing of the proclamation of the Constitution Act, giving Canada more autonomy. Their first trip was in 1951, before Elizabeth was crowned. The duke was back in 1954, and again, in 1959, when it was noted he shot the “legal limit” in a duck shoot in Quebec. Also on that trip, he said Ontario's liquor laws were “obsolete and old-fashioned,” an observation that likely remains true to this day.
It was in Canada in 1969 that Prince Philip made one of his more memorable quotes. In Vancouver, he had been asked to dedicate a new annex at city hall. Forgetting the name, Prince Philip barrelled forward: “It gives me great pleasure to declare this thing open, whatever it is.”
Perhaps just as humorous — but less well-remembered — was an occasion the week before that when, in Calgary, Prince Philip was given a white cowboy hat by Mayor Rod Sykes, a long-standing symbol of Calgary hospitality. The duke, upon receiving it, remarked that he could perhaps use it to carry 10 gallons of water, or as a flower pot. The Calgary Labor Council denounced it as “insulting behaviour towards Calgarians.” Later, he halfway apologized: “I didn't mean to be rude.”
Prince Philip had a close relationship with the Canadian military, as the Colonel-in-chief — a ceremonial rank — for a number of Canadian regiments. On his last visit to Canada, in 2013, at the age of 91, he awarded new ceremonial colours to one such unit, the Third Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.
Thompson, who sat so close to Prince Philip on that Sunday in Jasper that he could “see the hair on the back of his neck,” said when he woke up and saw the news of his passing, “my heart broke.”
“Part of our history is gone today ... it's like we all lost something very important to us. And I feel for the family today.”
This Sunday, Thompson will be at the small church in Jasper. “There will be a candle and flowers at the altar in his memory,” he said.