Royalists throughout Canada were saddened to learn of the death of Dr Hereward Senior on 21 June 2013 in Montreal at age ninety-four and a half. For the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust it is a particular loss because he was one of its original Trustees and was well known to many of his colleagues.
Hereward Senior’s public image was synonymous with the cause of monarchy. As a general historian, by then a rare enough type of scholar, he understood the importance of monarchy in human experience. Coming to Canada as an outsider from the United States gave him a more objective understanding of monarchy’s role in this country’s history and in the shaping of Canadian identity and nationality. “Canadian history itself would be subversive in a republican Canada” he often joked. As for constitutional considerations, he maintained “Making an elected president chief of state is like giving the office of referee to the captain of the strongest team”.
As an academic Hereward Senior’s real interest in people and the pleasure he took in encouraging students to expand their views made him an influential professor. Through his lectures and his writings he created a kind of school of monarchy. Young people from the generations exposed to his views in sessions at McGill, in his unfailingly hospitable home or through his books and articles now frequent the corridors of power. His well articulated royalist position gained wider exposure through the magazine Monarchy Canada for which he wrote regularly from 1975 to 1998. His articles, columns and reviews from its pages together with those of his late wife Professor Elinor Kyte Senior were collected and published in 2009 as In Defence of Monarchy.
No ivory tower philosopher, Hereward Senior did not scorn to enter the public lists as an advocate of the Crown as well. He became the Monarchist League of Canada’s first Montreal chairman in 1971 and held the position until 2002 As academic and active monarchist he gave media interviews, spoke at dinners, debated, addressed meetings and was guest speaker at conferences. He revived the McGill University Mock Parliament and was Honorary Chairman of the Queen’s Birthday Parade in Toronto, bringing the Compagnie franche de la Marine from Montreal to take part in it in 1990.
The latter act was not only typical of the man’s generosity it also highlighted the other strain he had found integral to the country he adopted and took up arms in defence of in World War Two; for along with Hereward Senior’s royalism went a love of French civilisation. His most important influence on the Monarchist League was to get the League to take a positive stand on French Canada about which it had not in those first days made up its mind He won his battle and the League embraced what was then known as B and B – bilingualism and biculturalism.
When the Monarchist League established the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust in 1994 Professor Senior’s activities were gradually transferred to it, a happier fit given the Trust’s more educational role. He served as a Trustee from 1994 until his death. Whether as academic or polemicist, Hereward Senior never failed to advocate his royalism in a balanced and tolerant manner, chivalrous even in the high degree of respect accorded the positions of opponents. He brought dignity and the poise of the veteran to every event he took part in. He received Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. It is hard to think of a worthier recipient.
Arthur Bousfield
Chairman
The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust
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Perhaps one of the greatest secrets in Canadian public life is the fact that, just as in Britain (a Saturday in June), New Zealand (the first Monday in June), Australia (the second Monday in June in most states, a Monday in September or October in Western Australia and Queensland), and some other Commonwealth countries, the Queen’s Official Birthdayis observed in Canada. The problem is that it is fixed by proclamation on the Monday before the 25th of May, the same day as the statutory observance of Victoria Day. This results in its being entirely overwhelmed and forgotten, because neither the Government of Canada nor the media will tell the people that this day is both Victoria Day and the Queen’s Birthday.
Before they were abolished in 1968 by the Trudeau government, artillery salutes used to be fired in Ottawa, the provincial capitals, and Montreal and Vancouver not only on the Queen’s Official Birthday, but also on the Queen’s Accession Day (6 February), the Queen’s actual birthday (21 April), the Queen’s Coronation Day (2 June), the Birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh (10 June), and (in those days) the Birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (4 August). After their abolition, a salute was left only on 1 July, while a new salute was introduced from American practice on Remembrance Day, 11 November (only several years later were the first two shots of this salute separated by two minutes in order to restore the Commonwealth practice, initiated by King George V on an Australian suggestion, of two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. on that day). Significantly however, while Montreal and Vancouver continued to be saluting bases on 1 July and 11 November, they were omitted for the Queen’s Official Birthday, when an artillery salute is now fired only in Ottawa and the provincial capitals.
All this is by way of background to the fact that, for the first time in many years, I found myself this last 20 May back in Toronto on the Queen’s Official Birthday. So, as I had done on many occasions in the past (except when involved with the Queen’s Birthday Parade, which used to take place in Toronto on this day), I betook myself to Queen’s Park to witness the firing of the artillery salute.
As preparations were being made in the park by the officers and men of the local artillery regiment for the firing of the salute, I asked, as I have done in the past on this occasion, some representative serving men (they were so young that I think they were probably cadets) what they thought the reason they were firing the salute was. I got the usual answer, “Victoria Day”. So then I asked, “But why would you fire a salute in honour of Queen Victoria?” One young lad replied, “Because she gave us our freedom”! Well, if he wanted to think that, who was I to attempt to give him a more sophisticated understanding of Canadian history? Indeed, after the salute had been fired, I heard an officer explaining to a bystander that, in addition to Victoria Day, salutes were also fired on Canada Day and Remembrance Day. That gave me the opportunity to mention to him that this day’s salute was not for Victoria Day but for the Queen’s Birthday. He had to admit that this was so, but that showed, as I have also learned in the past, that even officers are hazy about the reason they are firing a salute on this day.
But the truly impressive thing to report about this occasion is an innovation which had never taken place before in my experience of attending the salute in Toronto. Sitting on a grassy knoll was a brass quartet from the artillery regiment, who, before the firing began, played a selection of music by (Gilbert and) Sullivan, Bizet (and other composers whom I could not identify). But then, at the instant of the first shot of the salute they began to play “God Save the Queen”, which concluded on the third shot. They then continued with “O Canada”. Although they ended with the vulgar rise to the tonic an octave above what Calixa Lavallée wrote, one of the later shots of the salute at least muffled that! During the playing of the two anthems, the officers present, not otherwise involved with the technicalities of actually making the guns go off, came to the salute. Hearing “God Save the Queen” in that circumstance was really very moving. Even if the citizens of Toronto who heard the shots did not know why and the soldiers firing the salute were somewhat uncertain about what they were doing, this was a truly memorable observance of the Queen’s Birthday!
— Richard Toporoski
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Yesterday was a day of celebration for monarchists and those of us who closely study the world of Honours and Orders. For on his visit to Canada yesterday, The Duke of Edinburgh was invested as the first Extra Companion of the Order of Canada and a Commander of the Order of Military Merit.
Perhaps unknown to most readers, these are Canada’s highest orders. Today’s presentation would not otherwise be overly newsworthy, but the long journey that led to today’s presentation is one which is worthy of note. For, until now, The elderly Duke had received substantive honours from both Australia and New Zealand but, surprisingly, not from Canada, arguably the most monarchist of Commonwealth realms.
Whether by pure coincidence, the decision followed a national media campaign which some of us had launched earlier this year to try to influence the Government and garner public support. .
The Duke of Edinburgh is the oldest member of the Royal Family to have travelled to Canada and, after Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the second oldest member of the Royal Family to have left the shores of the UK. Such is HRH’s devotion to Canada, The Duke has travelled to the Great White North more than any other member of the Royal Family.
Considering his unparalleled dedication to Canada, it seem only natural that Canada should honour His Royal Highness with the nation’s highest honour. However, it will come as a surprise to many that a man who has been decorated by Australia, New Zealand and unmpteen countries around the world has, until now, not received a grand Canadian honour.
The reasons for this are complex. Until recently, the statutes of the Order of Canada that determined eligibility for the Order of Canada were limited to Canadian citizens. The powers-that-be determined that aside from the The Queen, who, as head of state, is the fount from which citizenship and honour flows, members of her family are simply Britons and therefore ineligible.
This contrasts starkly with the far more enlightened approach adopted by the Honours Secretariats of New Zealand and Australia, which, for certain honours, have a special class of membership for members of the Royal Family. New Zealand, the model for all Commonwealth Realms, also permits the granting of honours upon citizens of Commonwealth realms around the world — a tremendous statement of dedication and belief in the importance of our great family of nations.
By contrast, in Canada, the Duke was regarded as foreign, despite the fact that he was the spouse of The Queen of Canada, the father of the future King of Canada, a Privy Councillor of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Admiral of the Canadian Navy, General of the Canadian Army, General of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Admiral of the Canadian Sea Cadets and the Colonel-in-Chief of numerous Canadian Regiments. Surely anyone with a modicum of intelligence would regard this as supremely odd. Consequently, although many patriotic Canadians wanted HRH to receive Canada’s highest honour, they were told that the Statutes of the Order prevented this. HRH would have to be content with the “honorary” status granted to Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa, rather than the “substantive” membership accorded to Canadians. The Duke, proud of his Canadian connections, found this unacceptable and consequently, in 1982, he politely declined the offer of honorary membership.
The message was clear: the poorly drafted statutes of the Order of Canada needed to be amended. Statutes in New Zealand create a separate substantive class of “Extraordinary” members for members of the Royal Family (viz. Duke of Edinburgh, Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order and Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand). Similarly, Australians had no problem conferring Australian substantive honours upon members of their Royal Family (viz The Prince of Wales, Knight of the Order of Australia, Duke of Edinburgh, Commander of the Order of Australia)
For whatever reason, in 2000, on the occasion of her 100th Birthday Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was presented with “Honorary” Membership in the Order of Canada (an honour reserved for non-Canadians such as Nelson Mandela). At the time, many commentators felt is strangely odd, that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Queen Consort of King George VI of Canada, mother of Queen Elizabeth II of Canada, mother of the Sovereign of the Order of Canada, and, in her own right, colonel-in-chief of various Canadian regiments should be deemed foreign. More bizarrely, the presentation of the insignia of an “honorary” member of the Order was presented by the Governor General of Canada — when it would surely have been more appropriate to have HM The Queen, Sovereign of the Order of Canada, present the insignia to her mother. What a touching sight that would have been. Nevertheless, as peculiar as many thought it to be, the event was a success and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was deeply impressed.
However, as far as we know, the views of the Duke of Edinburgh remained unchanged. A group of us realised that unless the statutes of the Order were amended to enable the appointment of members of the Royal Family as substantive “Extra Companions” or “Royal Companions”, there would be little chance that he would accept membership. The idealists amongst us, would have liked to see Canada follow the New Zealand model and open the honours system to citizens of Commonwealth Realms.
Supporters of the Crown agreed that, as there was every chance that this might be the last trip that HRH might make to Canada, it was imperative that steps be taken immediately to try to rectify this omission. We suspected that senior government officials might also share our concern; but we felt that there would be no harm in involving the media as it could create a groundswell of public expectation and anticipation. “Will he or won’t he?” — which would make the actual presentation all the more eagerly anticipated and exciting. It could become “an event”.
An Editorial was duly published in the Globe and Mail calling for the Duke to be invested with the Order of Canada. As a Canadian, and also the editor of Burke’s World Orders of Knighthood & Merit (the definitive guide to National Orders) I immediately followed this up with my own letter. I then hoped that these two pieces would be brought to the attention of people at the highest levels of government so that, if they had not been seriously considering the issue before, this might now give them pause for thought.
We are therefore delighted that this staunchly-monarchist Government, which has done so much to ensure that Canadians fully understand and appreciate the importance of the Crown in our political and cultural life, have seen fit to provide The Duke of Edinburgh with the highest honours they could possibly bestow. The Canadian Government’s efforts to ensure that the Canadian Monarchy returns to the heart of national life, helping to ensure that Canadians appreciate the vital role that it has to play at the centre of our understanding of Canadian national identity, are worthy of the greatest praise. We celebrate them for that. I do not know whether the media campaign we launched had any impact on the ultimate decision to confer the Orders upon HRH but, ultimately, that is meaningless. For we simply rejoice in the fact that The Canadian Government have brought its honours policy in line with those of Australia, New Zealand and the UK and, most importantly, now acknowledge that the Royal Family is Canadian.
– Rafe Heydel-Mankoo
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By virtue of its status as the national capital, Ottawa can lay claim to more royal connections than any other Canadian city. Indeed, Ottawa (originally named Bytown, after Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers) was chosen to be Canada’s capital city by none other than the Queen-Empress Victoria herself (the great decision is commemorated in Ottawa’s coat of arms by the inclusion of a representation of St. Edward’s Crown).
During their flawless tour of Canada in 2011 the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laid wreaths at Canada’s National War Memorial. Did you know that every member of the Royal Family always lays a wreath at the memorial when they visit Ottawa?
The memorial was unveiled by Prince William’s great-grandparents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) in May 1939 to honour the fallen of the First World War — no one knew that the Second World War would start just over 3 months later. The unveiling of the National War Memorial was also the occasion of the first ever Royal Walkabout. Queen Elizabeth, having heard Scottish voices in the crowd, broke with protocol and walked over to the adoring spectators to converse. Thus Ottawa can claim to be the birthplace of one of the greatest of royal traditions.
When Prince William attended the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill (which, coincidentally, was the 50th anniversary of his mother’s birth) he sat on a stage in front of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, the original cornerstone of which was laid by his g-g-g-grandfather, King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales, and after whom Ottawa’s major thoroughfare of King Edward Avenue is named). To Prince William’s far right was a statue of his g-g-g-g-grandmother Queen Victoria and to his far left was a statue of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II (upon her favourite horse, Centennial, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police).
Had HRH ventured into the Centre Block he would have found another statue of Queen Victoria (as a young queen) in the library as well as a brand new “Diamond Jubilee” stained glass window honouring both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II, as well as a carved corbel also honouring his grandmother. Outside the entrance to the Senate (the Senate chamber containing royal thrones, which have been occupied by his grandparents and great-grandparents) HRH would have found portraits of all of the Canadian Monarchs since Confederation; and in the nearby Francophonie room are portraits of all of the French Monarchs of Canada — to whom HRH can also lay claim to some relationship (however distant).
Whilst in Ottawa The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge slept at Canada’s Government House (Rideau Hall). There too HRH would have seen paintings of his grandparents and great-grandparents and a stained glass window honouring his grandmother. Rideau Hall is a building in which a great many of the Duke of Cambridge’s ancestors and relations have also slept, dined and socialized. Aside from all of his immediate family (parents, aunts, uncles, grand-parents) we can also mention his great-grandfather King George VI, his great-grand-uncle King Edward VIII and his great-great-grandfather King George V, along with various other great-aunts and great-uncles too numerous to mention.
Ottawa, a city of gothic towers once known as “Westminster in the Wilderness”, is a city with a proud royal heritage. Indeed, although a small city by global standards (1 million metro), Ottawa’s traditions make it arguably the city most similar, or perhaps familiar, to ceremonial London and, therefore, a city which the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge could regard as a home away from home.The Canadian Grenadier Guards and the Governor General’s Foot Guards mount ceremonial duties in Ottawa, including the Changing of the Guard. Wearing their bearskins and red tunics, these guards might easily be mistaken for the guards who perform the same function for the Sovereign in London. The House of Commons and the Senate are modelled almost exactly on the British House of Commons and House of Lords, and the architecture, traditions and ceremonies are clearly adapted from the Mother of Parliaments.
“Royal” is a designation that may only be granted with the permission of the Sovereign. Ottawa is home to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Royal Ottawa Hospital, the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada and the Royal Ottawa Golf Club, to name a few.
Ottawa is a dynamic and youthful city, which can lay claim to the second highest quality of life in North America. Yet it is also a city steeped in tradition and history. The royal city and the modern royal family would seem to make a perfect fit.
– Rafe Heydel-Mankoo
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HRH The Duke of Edinburgh will make a private working visit to Canada in April in order to present a new Regimental Colour to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment. The presentation will take place in Toronto on 27th April and will also afford HRH an opportunity to meet with officers and non-commissioned members of the 3rd Battalion.
The Duke of Edinburgh has been Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Regiment since 1953 (not to be confused with the Royal Regiment of Canada, of which HRH The Prince of Wales is Colonel-in-Chief). The Duke has travelled to Canada more than any other member of the Royal Family — HRH’s first trip was in 1951 and his most recent was in 2010.
The Duke of Edinburgh, at the age of 91, is the oldest royal in history to have travelled to Canada. The previous record holder was HLM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whose final trip to Canada was in 1989 at the age of 88 (one month shy of her 89th birthday). The Duke of Edinburgh broke this record in 2010, having celebrated his 89th birthday a few days before travelling to Canada with HM The Queen to participate in the 1 July celebrations on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother remains the oldest royal to have left the shores of the United Kingdom. Her final overseas trip was to the European continent in 1992 at the age of 92.
The announcement of the Duke of Edinburgh’s April trip to Canada was made during the week in which he became the longest-lived male member of the royal family in history. The Duke is already our longest-serving royal consort.
– Rafe Heydel-Mankoo
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The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust
Statement on Changing the Rules of Succession
Issued 4 February, 2013
Bill C-53 is a good development but it will not change the rules of Succession to the Throne for Canada if and when enacted.
The Canadian Royal Heritage Trust supports the intent behind Bill C-53, “An Act to assent to alterations in the law touching the Succession to the Throne” tabled in the House of Commons by the Government of Canada on Thursday, 31 January, 2013, which would give the assent of the Parliament of Canada to a bill currently before the Parliament of the United Kingdom that, if enacted, will remove in British law elements of discrimination concerning female Succession to the Throne and the marriage of members of the Royal Family to Catholics.
This proposed Canadian Act is in accord with the requirements of paragraph 2 of the preamble to the Statute of Westminster, 1931 concerning the assent of the Dominion Parliaments and is within the competence of the Parliament of Canada to pass.
However, the assent of the Parliament of Canada to the British Bill (and subsequent Act) is, in itself, insufficient to change the rules of Succession for Canada. A second action is legally required, and if it is not taken then the current rules of Succession will remain the law for Canada after the rules have been changed for the United Kingdom.
1) Since passage of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, assent by the Parliament of Canada to legislation passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom has been insufficient for that legislation to extend to Canada.
2) From 1931 to 1982 paragraph 3 of the preamble and Section 4 of the Statute of Westminster, 1931 provided that such legislation would extend to Canada only with the explicit “request and consent” of Canada that it do so. In December 1936 the U.K. legislation providing for the Abdication of King Edward VIII and the Accession of King George VI was extended to Canada through Canada invoking Section 4 (“request and consent”) by an order-in-council and not through the assent of the Parliament of Canada, which was not in fact provided until March 1937, several months after the Accession of King George VI.
3) The Constitution Act, 1982 repealed Section 4 (“request and consent”) of the Statute of Westminster, 1931 insofar as it applied to Canada. Section 2 of the Canada Act, 1982 further specified that: “No Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the Constitution Act, 1982 comes into force shall extend to Canada as part of its law”.
4) Therefore, no Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after 1982 can extend to Canada, with or without the assent of the Parliament of Canada, and the rules of Succession for Canada cannot be amended by post-1982 British legislation. They must be amended by a fully domestic Canadian procedure subsequent to Canadian assent to the British legislation.
A more detailed explanation of the status and history of amendments to the rules of Succession is provided in the accompanying background papers.
CRHT Background Paper On Changing The Rules Of Succession To The Throne For Canada PDF
CRHT Background Paper on Canada’s Law of Succession PDF
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