Short but sweet tour that’s laid the blueprint for those to come

ROYAL aides were keeping a keen eye on the weather forecast as they put the finishing touches to plans for last week’s tour of Canada.

And as winds picked up in Newfoundland, local organisers decided to move the official welcome ceremony indoors.

There was, however, a much more dangerous storm brewing.

Canada has been in a state of near national mourning after the unmarked graves of hundreds of indigenous children were discovered – an appalling legacy of abuse from Residential Schools run by the Anglican Church.

There were calls for the Queen, as head of the Church, to apologise. But the job fell to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

After the recent Royal tour of the Caribbean, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were accused of being colonial and tone-deaf, there was much riding on this high-profile visit by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. And following months of debate across the Commonwealth as to whether the Crown should still represent people living thousands of miles from

Britain, it was a chance to take stock and deliver a new message: ‘We’re listening.’

Even before take-off in a Royal Canadian Air Force jet from Brize Norton, Charles telephoned indigenous leaders, some of whom he has known for more than 40 years. It proved that being the heir to the throne for so long has its advantages after all.

One Elder of the Cree tribe knows him not as Charles, but by his spirit name which means: ‘Sun watches over him in a good way.’

Landing in Newfoundland on Tuesday, there seemed to be something in it. Despite the forecast, the wind had died down, the clouds cleared and the sun was shining.

At the end of the week, Charles gave a heartfelt speech – in yet more brilliant sunshine – in which he acknowledged the pain caused by Residential Schools, something for which indigenous Elders had been urging and which had been deftly inserted into the script.

Dignified and tactful, the short but sweet visit laid down a blueprint for Royal tours to come.