Canada to greet William, Kate with pomp, protests (AFP)

OTTAWA (AFP) – Prince William and new bride Princess Catherine make their international debut Thursday as Britain's royal golden couple, hoping star power will win skeptical Canadians over to the monarchy.

Thousands desperate to glimpse the pair on their first official overseas trip lined the streets of Ottawa ahead of a wreath-laying ceremony at a World War I memorial scheduled for 1835 GMT, shortly after their expected arrival.

While Prince William has plenty of experience of royal duties, his wife, whom he met while studying at Scotland's Saint Andrews University, is still a rookie in the public eye.

At the start of the nine-day tour of the key British Commonwealth nation, Princess Catherine will have an immediate chance to show she has learnt the ropes when she meets and greets the gathering throng after the ceremony.

Prince William's great-grandparents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth unveiled the memorial in 1939 and established a new tradition with the first royal walkabout, stopping to chat with some in the 100,000-strong crowd.

Full of pomp and ceremony, the trip comes just two months after a radiant Kate Middleton walked down the aisle in the wedding-of-the-year, watched by an estimated two billion people worldwide.

The 29-year-old newlyweds flew earlier out of London's Heathrow airport in the morning on a Royal Canadian Air Force jet.

Princess Catherine's outfit featured Canadian and French labels in a move to please her hosts, including those in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, where part of the visit will take place.

She wore a navy blue knee-length Manon dress by French designer Roland Mouret with a navy blazer by Toronto-based Smythe les Vestes, as well as navy Manolo Blahnik Calogera court shoes.

Prince William, second in line to the British throne after his father Prince Charles, was wearing a navy suit and red tie.

Meanwhile, their Canadian fans packed every hotel in sight of the capital. Some even camped overnight on the steps of the war memorial, awakened by Canada's national anthem blared from nearby Parliament Hill where technicians readied sound and stage equipment for Friday's Canada Day celebrations.

"It's symbolic that Canada is the first place they have chosen to visit," said Dave Sencial, who had come all the way from Canada's easternmost Newfoundland province to see the royal couple.

Support for the monarchy hovers above 50 percent in Canada and has risen from last year since the royal nuptials, although there is still a vocal anti-monarchist minority.

In addition to official and military ceremonies, the lengthy royal visit will have its more casual moments, such as a cooking class, an aboriginal sports event and a rodeo.

The initiation of sorts for the British royal family's newest member, also known as the Duchess of Cambridge, will provide vital training for the future queen in the cauldron-like atmosphere of royal walkabouts.

Their first day will kick off with military honors as well as speeches by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston and Prince William himself.

Later, the royals are to attend a barbecue with 120 young Canadians at the official residence of the British governor general, Rideau Hall, originally the home of a Scottish stonemason.

On July 1, they cap off their visit to Ottawa celebrating Canada's national holiday, joining tens of thousands outside parliament for musical performances and fireworks.

After taking a cooking class in Montreal on July 2, William and Catherine will travel to Quebec City, Charlottetown, Yellowknife and Calgary.

Prior to their final stop in Canada, the newlyweds, who honeymooned in May in the Seychelles, were expected to sneak away on a romantic getaway to a secluded and undisclosed location in the Rocky Mountains for a day and night.

Their tour of Canada coincides with a grim milestone -- Friday would have been the 50th birthday of Princess Diana, Prince William's mother, who was thronged by fans when she made her own visit to Canada in 1983.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William's grandmother, is Canada's official head of state but has next-to-no role in the country's governance.

A poll released on the eve of their visit showed one-third of Canadians wish to cut ties with the British monarchy.

Anti-monarchists in the French-speaking independence-leaning province of Quebec added their own event to the royal itinerary, calling for protests when the couple stops in Quebec City on Sunday.

After wrapping up their tour of Canada, the couple will travel to California for three days, July 8-10, for a visit whose highlight will be a black-tie celebrity reception for British filmmakers in Los Angeles.

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Royals Quebec visit attracts protests (AFP)

MONTREAL (AFP) – Hardline separatists plan to protest Prince William and Kate Middleton's visit to Quebec next month, saying the future British monarch symbolizes Canadian federalism and Anglo-Saxon dominance.

The separatist Quebecois Network of Resistance (RRQ) plans to organize a rally at noon on Sunday, July 3 at the Quebec City Hall, using the slogan "William, Get Lost!" as its rallying cry.

The protest is expected to coincide with the royal couple attending a ceremony intended to showcase the relationship between the Royal 22nd Regiment, Canada's best-known Francophone military regiment, and Quebec City.

"If Prince William and Princess Catherine want to come to Quebec as British citizens for a honeymoon they pay for themselves, we don't have a problem with it," RRQ leader Patrick Bourgeois told AFP.

"But if they come at the invitation of the Canadian federal government, which wants to offend and humiliate Quebec separatists, we will be there."

Bourgeois sees Prince William's visit as a purely political operation designed by the federal government to show the world that Quebec knows its place within Canada.

He is seeking a repeat of 2009, when demonstrations forced a visiting Prince Charles -- Prince William's father -- to enter a military barracks in downtown Montreal by the back door.

Years before, on October 10, 1964, police armed with nightsticks charged a crowd of students and separatists protesting Queen Elizabeth's visit to Quebec in an incident remembered as "Truncheon Saturday."

Quebec and most of the Lawrence River area was occupied by French colonizers starting in the 16th century. Britain, which had colonies further south, disputed the French control.

After several conflicts, many fought with help from their respective Indian allies, Britain wrested control of the region from France in the 1763 Treaty of Paris at the end of the Seven Years' War.

Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth, has been independent since the 1930s even though the queen remains the formal head of state.

Referendums for an independent Quebec were held twice, in 1980 and 1995, and separatists lost each time, although by a very narrow margin in the latest round. Though weakened by its defeat at the polls and internal fighting, the separatist movement is still hoping for a third chance with voters.

According to opinion polls, two thirds of Canadians would like to break institutional links with the British crown.

The British royalty, however, has ardent supporters of its own, represented by the Monarchist League of Canada, which claims 10,000 members, including 500 in Quebec, said provincial spokesman Etienne Boisvert.

Boisvert, whose French ancestors arrived in Quebec in the 16th and 17th centuries, conceded that France and Britain have a history of difficult ties.

But, he said, it was the British who "brought a parliamentary system of government, democracy and the doctrine of individual rights to North America."

He called the monarchy a "feudal institution that knew how to reinvent itself."

And the fact that the queen lives 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) away is not a concern for him, as she is represented in Canada by the governor general, David Lloyd Johnston.

In monarchist circles, people have proposed making a member of the royal family head each one of the 16 Commonwealth realms.

"Prince Harry, who has virtually no chance of becoming king, could set himself up here and found a Canadian branch of the monarchy," Boisvert speculated. "Or the future king could rotate -- six months in Canada, six in Australia, six in London."

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