Charles & Camilla in Toronto and Vancouver

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall’s official tour of Canada continued in Toronto and Vancouver this week. They examined Camilla’s Canadian roots and checked out the venues for the upcoming Winter Olympics in the latter city.

REUTERS/ Mike Cassese

First, Toronto. The couple arrived there on Thursday, and the first they did was tour Dundurn Castle. This castle, located in Hamilton, Ontario, was built by the Duchess’ great-great-grandfather, Sir Allan Napier MacNab, prime minister from 1854 to 1856 to the then Province of Canada.

Just before touring the castle, the royal couple met with the 400 people who had gathered outside. One of them was a woman named Dee Dee Larocque, who managed to get both her hand shook and have her picture taken with Prince Charles.

“I was surprised at how cordial he was,” she said with a big smile to her face. “He was really, really charming.”

“He said to me: `I hope you haven’t been waiting too long,”’ she said.

After greeting the crowds, the Prince and his wife went on a tour of the castle. Camilla seemed moved as she toured her ancestral home. She and her husband even planted a tree on the castle grounds.

Later, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess went aboard the HMCS Haida and unveiled a plaque in commemoration of their visit.

REUTERS/Fred Thornhill

Prince Charles then went solo to the Niagara College Teaching Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. There, he tasted some of the College’s wines and dedicated its new visitor center. The Prince was near Niagara Falls, but did not visit the landmark waterfalls, which disappointed some locals.

In the evening, Charles returned to Toronto and dressed in a military uniform in order to present new colors to the Royal Regiment of Canada and the Toronto Scottish Regiment.

The next morning, the Prince and the Duchess officially opened the 87th Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum. The fair is the world’s largest indoor agricultural event and attracts thousands. Charles and Camilla took the time to meet with some of the participants. They also received gifts. Charles was presented with maple syrup and honey by the fair president’s grandson; her granddaughter gave Camilla with a western saddle.

Later, Charles went solo again when he donned a hard hat to tour the Evergreen Brick Works Restoration site.

After that, the Prince and his wife went west for the third stop of their tour: British Columbia.

They arrived in Victoria to large crowds who waited in the rain to see the royal couple. During his welcoming speech, the Prince of Wales joked about his age.

“For me this is what I thought was possibly my fifth or sixth visit, but the premier tells me it’s my fourth, which just shows I must … it’s what happens when you get older ladies and gentlemen,” he said.

REUTERS/Andy Clark

“So, whatever visit, how many times I have been to British Columbia, I’m sure it’s more, and believe it or not, my 15th to Canada,” he said. “This, in itself, ladies and gentlemen, merely indicates my advancing age, if not a fond appreciation of this great country.”

The last time the Prince came to the region was in 1998 with his sons, Princes William and Harry. Aside from a few official visits, the royal trio also went skiing at Whistler.

“[It was] something they particularly enjoyed, and partly, I suspect, because they had just reached the age when they could easily overtake their slow old father on the ski slopes. As a result, we have many happy memories of your province and of the great kindness and friendship shown to us by its people,” said Charles

On Saturday, Charles and Camilla spent much of the day touring the Olympic sites of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. They received official Olympic mittens and posed for photographers with the Olympic mascots, Quatchi, Miga and Sumi.

That evening, the couple attended a reception at the Government House back in Victoria.

Charles and Camilla will spend four days altogether in British Columbia before heading to Quebec.