On May 19, join the Toronto Railway Museum and Dr. Carolyn Harris for an online lecture about the Queen’s tours of Canada. Carolyn will talk about the Queen’s tours of Canada on railway.

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne in 1952. The 1950s were a period of iconic royal train tours of Canada as Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip made their first official visit to Canada in 1951 and then Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip undertook their longest visit to Canada in 1959, traveling to all the provinces and territories of the time. Royal tours were an opportunity for members of the royal family to connect with Canadians from all walks of life and engage with Canadian culture and institutions. Canadian royal tours were also an opportunity for Canadians to discuss and debate the future of the monarchy in Canada. Although train travel across Canada was no longer central to royal tours of Canada after the 1950s as air travel took centre stage, short royal train journeys and engagement with railway history continued to be part of Canadian royal tours as the Queen rode the monorail train at Expo 67, and took a historic silver jubilee train journey from Ottawa to Wakefield, Quebec in 1977. William and Catherine visited the White Pass steam train in Carcross, Yukon during their most recent Canadian tour in 2016.

TICKETS

Tickets for this online event are free, although registration is required.

Attendees will get access to our exclusive Zoom meeting room, where they can engage directly with the presenter and museum historians in a post-lecture Q&A. The event will begin at 7:00pm Eastern Standard Time, and will end at 8:30pm EST.