Charles, le prince de Galles, et sa femme, Camilla, la duchesse de Cornouailles, are touring Canada this week.

De Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, they traveled to Ontario; then it’s on to British Columbia, Québec, et enfin à Ottawa. They’ll return to England on November 12.

Because Canada remains a constitutional monarchy, La reine Elizabeth II is technically the Reine du Canada, the country’s official Head of State. Comme héritier du trône britannique, l' Prince de Galles is in line to become Canada’s official ruler.

If you’re a newcomer to Canada, particularly if you’ve come from the very non-royalist United States, you may be surprised by the degree to which the monarchy is alive and well north of the border. While the Queen’s role is largely symbolic, her portrait graces Monétaire canadien et timbres, et le Canadian media covers a royal visit in minute detail.

Encore Canadians have mixed feelings about their royal ties.

Bien que le chef libéral Michael Ignatieff once famously dismissed the relevance of the monarchy with “Enough of this nonsense…,” une Sondage Sun Media pris dans la semaine précédant cette dernière visite royale a constaté que “support for dumping the monarchy stands at 45% nationally, tout support for keeping the Queen as our head of state is slightly lower at 44%.”

Regardless of your views on the monarchy, vous pouvez get the complete itinerary for the royal visit here.

Photo © Carolyn B. Vrai démon