Royal tours of Canada by the Canadian Royal Family have been taking place since 1786, and continue into the 21st century, either as an official tour, a working tour, a vacation, or a period of military service by a member of the royal family. Originally, official tours were events predominantly for Canadians to see and possibly meet members of their Royal Family, with the associated patriotic pomp and spectacle. However, nearing the end of the 20th century, such occasions took on the added dimension of a theme; for instance, the 2005 tour of Saskatchewan and Alberta by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was deemed to be a vehicle for the Queen and Canadians to honour The Spirit of Nation Builders. The couple's tour in 2010 was themed Honouring the Canadian Record of Service— Past, Present and Future. Official royal tours have always been vested with civic importance, providing a regionalised country with a common thread of loyalty.The first royal figure to be present in Canada was the future King William IV, who arrived on the country's east coast in 1786 while an officer in the Royal Navy. However, while his niece, Queen Victoria, never came to Canada, it was during Victoria's reign that her son, the future King Edward VII, initiated the traditional format of the Canadian royal tour: partaking in official engagements, meeting politicians and the public, and reviewing troops. While invitations had been regularly made since 1858 for the reigning monarch to tour Canada, it was in 1939 that King George VI became the first to actually do so. During that trip, the King's wife, Queen Elizabeth, initiated the tradition of the royal walkabout, though her brother-in-law, the former King Edward VIII, had been frequently meeting with everyday Canadian people in 1919; as he said: Getting off the train to stretch my legs, I would start up conversations with farmers, section hands, miners, small town editors or newly arrived immigrants from Europe.Royal tours can take upwards of a year to organize. The planning is coordinated by the Canadian Secretary to the Queen. What regions are visited is decided by a rotational formula. Modern tours have run with a theme, such as that of Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2010, which was intended to highlight the Canadian record of service—past, present and future; themes are decided upon by the Queen's secretary together with the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Office of the Prime Minister. In summer 2011, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge toured Canada in their first official overseas trip as a married couple.
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