Memory lane
Looking back on Prince Charles and Diana’s royal visit to Shelburne
Charles and Diana’s stop in Shelburne in 1983 during a Royal Tour of Canada brings back a lot of special memories for not only residents on the South Shore, but those in the media who covered the event.
A lot of time has passed since a very young royal couple — Charles and Diana — visited Shelburne in June 1983.
But as their son Harry married Meghan Markle on May 19 in what, this year, has been the most talked about wedding on the planet, many people still vividly remember the royal visit to Shelburne.
When Prince Charles and Diana, the Princess of Wales, visited Canada in 1983, they had been married just under two years. There was lots of excitement over the visit to the region that was part of an 18-day Royal Tour of Canada.
Thousands of people turned out for the visit.
Photographing the event for the Shelburne Coast Guard was freelance photographer Trina Norman.
“It was a blast,” said Norman. She still has her press pass from that day along with a collection of photos she took.
“It just brings back those really good memories,” she said. “The streets were just packed solid everywhere we went. There were people and young kids and lots of excitement.”
She says she felt a connection to the royal couple as their mar- riage on July 29, 1981, happened just a couple of days before her own marriage on Aug. 1 of the same year.
“That was part of my bridal shower. We all stayed up and watched the wedding. And so to be that close later on was pretty exciting,” Norman said.
The royal couple had arrived in Shelburne on June 16, 1983, aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, which, it was described, emerged from a morning fog bank as it entered Shelburne Harbour.
The couple walked almost the entire length of Dock Street and officially unveiled a plaque to open the J.C. Williams Dory Shop Museum as part of their visit.
At the museum, then-master dory builder Sydney Mahaney gave the couple a tour and presented a small replica of a dory as a gift for their one-year-old son William.
Other Shelburne residents also remember the visit fondly.
“I was there in the front row. I was 12 years old and I shook Princess Diana’s hand. I will never forget it. We also have tonnes of pictures from that day,” wrote Becky Atwood, in her response to request from the Shelburne Coast Guard website for memories of the visit.
“My brother and I were there waiting to meet them all dressed in our loyalist costumes that Mrs. Mary Archibald had made for us, being pushed and shoved and lov- ing every minute of it,” recalled Louise Delisle.
“We were invited to meet them by the Shelburne Historical Society to represent the Black Loyalist. They stopped and talked to the both of us for a minute. Charles talked to Robert and Diana talked to me. I remember I was so very nervous looking at the best and most beautiful person I have ever seen in this life.
“She asked me how many of us were here. I was speechless so my brother Robert told her that were at least 60 of us still living in Shelburne. So much British press wanted to know what she had said to us. My first press interview. What a wonderful day.”