September 2022:
"The King is dead. Long live the Queen"
It is said that when this chant was carried on the African breeze, the 26-year-old Princess Elizabeth heard it and first learned that her father had passed. That same woman then served as our queen for 70 years. And now the Crown passes on to her son.
King Charles III ascends the throne at the ripe old age of 73. Women in that family have long lives, and our late queen's mother lived to the age of 102. This was the Queen Elizabeth for whom Edmonton’s Queen Elizabeth Park is named. She and her husband, King George VI, visited our fair city in 1939. Their daughter Elizabeth, our late queen, was just 13 years old at that time. She was just a footnote in the royal visit of 1939. She made more of a splash when she as Princess Elizabeth visited our city in 1951, little knowing she would be queen just a few months later. And now 70 years later we mourn her passing.
She visited the city on other occasions during her 70 years on the throne. She and other members of the Royal Family are remembered in place names in the city.
The name of the Edmonton neighbourhood of Prince Rupert honours the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Co., a nephew of the king of the time. Today's province of Alberta was part of the territory controlled by the HBC.
After HBC deeded over its control, the Canada government established the North-West Territories to cover the Prairies and also the Northland. In the 1880s it was decided to form districts in the NWT. The names of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca were easy choices for some parts of the NWT but what to name the western-most part of the Prairies?
The governor general of the time, the Marquess of Lorne, looked across the breakfast table to his wife, and when Princess Louise Caroline Alberta met his eyes, the name Louise suggested itself as a good name for the district. The Princess herself thought that her other name, "Alberta," was more fitting as it would honour both herself and her late father, Prince Albert, Alberta being the feminine form of his name. The district of Alberta later gave its name to the whole province.
Princess Louise was a daughter of the woman who reigned over the British Empire through much of the 1800s. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901.
In 1914 a women's group appealed to the city council to name the city's new golf course after a famous woman. And the Queen, by then deceased 13 years, was chosen for that honour. The naming of Victoria Park was done on May 24, 1914, the holiday known as Empire Day.
In those 13 years since Queen Victoria’s death, a king had come and gone. Upon the queen’s death in 1901, her eldest son became King Edward VII. Edmonton's King Edward School and the King Edward Park neighbourhood took his name. But he was already 60 when he ascended to the throne and wore the crown only nine years. Queen Victoria had reigned for 64 years, a record only excelled by her great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth II.
After the passing of the King, Duggan Street School was renamed Queen Alexandra School after the King’s widow.
George V then succeeded to the throne. Although nothing appears to be named after him, his wife's name does carry on in the name of an Edmonton landmark. Queen Mary died in 1953, and Queen Mary Park school opened just after that, taking her name.
George V ruled for 25 years, and it is said that the old logs of Fort Edmonton were burnt in the bonfires that were part of his silver anniversary celebration. He died not long after that celebration, and was replaced by Edward VIII and shortly after that by his other son George VI.
War again seemed to be coming, and to help cement Imperial loyalties, George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) visited Edmonton in 1939.
At that time, it was arranged that the King and Queen would enter the city by way of Portage Avenue. But the Portage name was considered not dignified enough to play such a prominent part in the Royal Tour. So it was decided to switch its name with that of nearby Kingsway Avenue, and Kingsway would take the name Portage.
Oddly enough, the "new" Portage Avenue would change its name again on the occasion of another important visit, 12 years later.
The war was fought and won, and in 1951, Edmonton again received a royal visitor. Princes Elizabeth, by then 25 years old, visited our city, accompanied by her husband Prince Philip. Portage Avenue, which had taken its name only 12 years earlier, took the name Princess Elizabeth Avenue in honour of her visit.
And when Elizabeth unexpectedly took the throne only four months later, the West End City Park was renamed Coronation Park to mark the occasion. That was in 1952, 70 years ago.
A year later the neighbourhood of North Inglewood took a new name connected with the Royal Family. In 1953 the neighbourhood school took the name Prince Charles. At that time Prince Charles, now our king, was only five years old. The neighbourhood adopted that name as well, Now that the prince is king, perhaps the neighbourhood should change its name to King Charles III! [in September 2024 the school's name was changed to Awâsis Waciston School (Cree for Child’s Nest)]
The royalty holds special significance in our political life. Canada actually is defined as a constitutional monarchy. The reigning monarch oversees our lawmaking and heads our government. Our treaties and our legal court rulings bear his or her name. But his or her powers are restricted by the constitution.
The King’s first public speech as king last week signalled that he will be working to include marginalized communities. Even if not technically defined as a democracy, our representational government does aspire to have each citizen heard to the extent possible and just. I think we all agree that election results that ignore most of the voters are a travesty against that aspiration.
Even in the British Commonwealth, even in Britain itself, we see fair election systems in use, systems where the majority of votes are used to elect the majority of elected members and where each significant group has its due share of the seats. More than half the countries in the world now elect at least some of their members through a fair election system. Canada though, alone of the major countries, appoints some lawmakers and elects all the others through a non-proportional system.
Next week, we will be witnessing the coronation of a new monarch and also we will be celebrating September 15, International Democracy Day. Our new King speaks to the need for fairness to our minority groups. And our leaders boast that Canada’s social discourse is based on respect and open-ness. Let us hope that sometime soon we will see that in our elections. I believe our new King would approve.
===============================
originally published in Millwoods Mosaic September 2022)
keywords: Edmonton place names placenames British Royalty Royal family
Comments