The visit of Prince Philip



On 9 September 1984, thirty years after his father, somewhat unexepectedly prince Philip attended the Canadian commemoration.  The prince reviewing the guard of honor, formed by a detachment of the Navy.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the liberation prince Albert who had already attended in 1954, was again invited for the ceremony of 9 September 1984. Everything was in the can and in the scenario of the ceremony someone had already written: "At 11 o'clock: arrival of the H.R.H. Prince Albert, Prince of Luik".  The presence of the prince is mentioned in the tri-lingual religious service booklet of this Canada Day.  Elas, at the end of August the prince "who spends his last holidays in the south of France has had a slight accident which means some of his activities will have to be cancelled."  But at the commemoration in Adegem he would be represented by his son prince Philip.

Except for his Royal Highness other high dignitaries were invited to Adegem: Wilfried Martens, the prime minister, Willy De Clercq, vice-premier, August De Schrijver, minister of state, monseigneur Van Peteghem, minister councillor Derek R.T. Fraser, ambassador J.H. Taylor, Belgian and Canadian generals, other top military brass, representatives of patriotic associations, of Canadian veterans, etc.

Like his father so many years before, prince Philip was received with great enthusiasm.  Burgomaster Rotsart de Hertaing welcomed the royal guest as follows:

"Your Majesty, Each year his Majesty the King insists on being represented at the traditional ceremony in honor of the fallen Canadians.  At the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the liberation you have accepted to take part in this national homage.

Your presence, Monseigneur, is living proof that our Royal House considers this homage very important. It illustrates how it appreciates the participation of the Canadian Army in the liberation of our country.  May we therefor request, Monseigneur, not only to express our heartfelt thanks to our beloved monarch, but also to convey the assurance of our everlasting loyalty, our sincere recognition and our deepest recognition and affection to His Majesty and the Royal Family.

Monseigneur, may we also request that you be our spokesman for his Royal Highness Prince Albert, your beloved Father to wish him a speedy and complete recovery and to present to her Royal Highness Princess Astrid our best wishes for her wedding to Prince Lorenz of Austria.  May our Dynasty, that for 150 years already guards with the greatest dedication over Belgium, always remain concerned for the independence, the freedom and prosperity of our people."


Burgomaster Jean Rotsart de Hertaing during his speech (see our text)

Adegem's St. Adrian's Church was chock-a-block full of guests who all had their assigned places according to the rules of protocol.  Even the members of the former Belgium-Canada Comittee who were still alive had been invited.  There was no room at all for the local population itself and some enthusiastic inhabitants of Adegem considered that rather bad.

Unfortunately for the organizers, for the umpteenth time rain was part of the proceedings but this time it wasn't mere rainfall but slashing heavy rain showers.  Now and again it rained cats and dogs; "outside it rained steadily but the sun was in their hearts...".  It fairly poured down during the speech of burgomaster Rotsart de Hertaing in the cemetery.  Yet the program was completed as planned and Prince Philip thought it unnecessary to even seek protection under an umbrella or to use the seat:

"The spectators noted with respect and appreciated the very nice attitude of Prince Philip, who appears not to like protocol, since he refused the umbrella someone wanted to hold over his head and the beautiful seat that awaited him, especially since the Prince like a real soldier staid on his feet during the entire ceremony from start to finish."


In the cemetery the Prince refused the proferred umbrella and this in spite of the heavy rain.  This gesture was very much appreciated by many of those present but most of all by 'his' troops.

The reception was held in a tent dressed in the playground of the boys school.  In this same tent an exhibition was also organized.  It consisted of i.a. choice war material from the war collection of Alex Martens from Adegem.  The Prince received a few words of explanation from Frank Raeman and was clearly very interested.  If we can believe the reporter on duty it was the most beautiful ceremony he could remember.  It was perturbed only by "the performance of the AudioVisuel Studios AVS, the association that one day hopes to start a free television station, and high above the umbrellas they filmed from under a Jupiler sunshade."  In the meantime AVS have quite grown out of their infancy.


The royal prince signs the Golden Book while Mrs Rotsart de Hertaing looked on with approval.


During the traditional reception after the ceremony burgomaster Rotsart de Hertaing handed a facsimile of the decorated page from the Golden Book to Mr.  Murray, the Canadian senator.

 

 


© Hugo Notteboom / Heemkundige Kring Het Ambacht Maldegem, 1994
Translated in English by Denis Noë

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