Toughest test for William on Canadian tour
Prince William was today facing the biggest challenge on the royal tour of Canada on what would have been his mother Diana's 50th birthday.
He and the Duchess of Cambridge were leading the nationwide Canada Day celebrations to mark the country's birth as a nation 144 years ago.
This involves the couple attending a "moving" citizenship ceremony in Ottawa in which 25 young people formally become Canadians. After pledging an oath of allegiance to the Queen, each was being presented with a Canadian flag by William and Kate.
William will this evening make a televised broadcast to the nation of which he will one day be king, but was not expected to make public mention of his mother, who died in August 1997.
This morning a solitary bunch of flowers and a picture of Diana had been placed at the gates to Kensington Palace, now the London home of the duke and duchess.
After the citizenship ceremony, the couple will be taken by horse-drawn landau carriage, purchased for Canada in 1911 by Earl Grey, to Parliament Hill where they will inspect a military guard of honour, see a flypast by the Snowbirds - a military aircraft display team - and watch a TV link-up with Canadian forces in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.
The theme for Canada Day is "a proud past and a bright future" and will mark Canada's decision to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by the end of the year. It has lost more than 150 servicemen in the war.
The day will conclude with an open-air concert and firework display on Parliament Hill that will be attended by the couple.
Yesterday they received a rapturous welcome when they touched down in Canada on their first joint foreign tour, with thousands of Canadians flocking to the capital city.
There were chants of "We love you Kate" following a ceremony to honour the country's war dead, and the duke also had his admirers who voiced their appreciation later during a walkabout.
When the couple were officially welcomed at a ceremony staged at Rideau Hall, the residence of Governor General David Johnston, there were repeated calls of "William, William".
