© 2011, Christian Cassidy
There is a Winnipeg version of 'the King's speech' and it took place less than four months before the wartime rally speech that was featured in the Oscar winning movie.
In Spring 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made a month-long Royal Visit to Canada. According to the CBC, the couple were treated like 'rock stars' with huge, enthusiastic crowds at every stop along the train route.
There were brief Manitoba stops at Brandon, Carberry and Portage la Prairie, but their longest stay was in Winnipeg on May 24, 1939, which also happened to be Victoria Day!
Waving to the crowd from the balcony of the Legislature (source)
The Royals arrived at the CPR station at 10:30 am, then went off to a 'meet and greet' reception at City Hall. From there, it was the Legislature for meetings and a reception.
Lunch was held next door at Government House, and at 1 p.m., the King went to a broadcast room set up on-site to deliver a Victoria Day address that would be transmitted to his 500 million (give or take) subjects around the British Empire by the BBC. His speech was measured, but there were no sings of a stutter.
His speech began: "Winnipeg, the city from which I am speaking, was no more than a fort and hamlet upon the open prairie when Queen Victoria began to rule. Today it is a monument to the faith and energy which have created and upheld the world-wide Empire of our time".
For that day, during the King's speech, Winnipeg was literally the centre of the Empire!
At the CNR Station (source)
After a couple of hours of private time, the couple and their entourage - which included Prime Minister King, Premier Bracken and the Lieutenant Governor - went on their afternoon program that included visits to Polo Park race track, Assiniboine Park, St. Boniface City Hall, Deer Lodge Hospital and Kildonan Park.
It was then back to the CPR station, and by 7 pm they were back on the rails.
The crowd was estimated between 9,000 and 10,000. Almost 7,000 were area schoolchildren, who were brought in from around Western Manitoba to see the Royal couple. There were also 500 Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, a 300-member honour guard with representatives from each town in Westman, and a special meeting section for 'old timers' - the pioneers who helped settle the area.
Thousands of others lined the route and had come from as far as South Dakota.
The Royal party, which also included Prime Minister King, were greeted at the train by Mayor Young. The program was informal, just to meet a few dignitaries and government officials from the area.
The couple were so taken by the sight of such a large crowd, the largest in the west so far, that they held up the official program for half an hour while they wandered through the crowd.
The train didn't pull out of Brandon until 11 pm, and the city partied through the night at numerous social events that culminated in a dance at the airport. The Winnipeg Free Press wrote: "A dance at the Brandon airport and other entertainment features maintained the tempo of the celebrations with most of the adult younger citizens creeping to bed in the early hours of the dawn".
During one of the dances, Brandon's mayor received a telegram that stated: "The Queen and I would like to thank all of the citizens of Brandon for the wonderful reception they gave us tonight. Signed, George RI"
Prime Minister King would record in his diary of the Brandon visit: "Wonderful cheering. A long bridge overhead crowded with people. The hour: 11 at night." Update Feb 11, 2011: Lindor Reynold's column in the Free Press includes the audio of the Winnipeg Speech.
3 comments:
Nice research, Chris!
Thanks !
Very interesting tale - I bet not many people remember such things. Thanks for reminding us!
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