Imagine that, a royal castle in West Shore

Jack Knox, Times Colonist

Published: Saturday, November 07, 2009

Went to my niece's convocation at Royal Roads University yesterday. (Congratulations Cathy!)

Hoped to see Prince Charles there, seeing as he's in town for the weekend and his grandparents once talked of turning Hatley Castle into the family home.

It's true. The story of how Royal Roads was considered as a royal residence is one that emerged from the diaries of Canada's Second World War prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King.

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The tale goes back to 1939 when, with war on the horizon in Europe, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the one many remember as the Queen Mum) landed in Victoria during a cross-Canada tour.

They spent a couple of hours picnicking at Hatley Park, the grounds of Royal Roads, then still owned by the Dunsmuir estate. The king and queen were apparently quite impressed by the place, which was up for sale.

In fact, they mentioned it when Mackenzie King visited them at the royal estate at Balmoral, Scotland, in August 1941. By that time, Hatley Park had been bought by the federal government for $75,000 (even then it was a jaw-dropping steal of a deal) and converted to a school for naval officers.

"At one stage, [the king] asked me about what had become of the Dunsmuir property," Mackenzie King wrote in his diary. "I told him of the government having purchased it and of it being used for naval purposes. I could see what he had in mind was the possibility of making a sort of Canadian residence for the King."

In fact, some accounts say Ottawa actually had a royal refuge in mind when, with the war going badly, it bought the property in 1940, but the idea of moving the king, queen and their two daughters there was eventually rejected due to the harm it might do to British morale.

Apparently the king and queen themselves never thought seriously of leaving Britain during the war. To quote Elizabeth: "The princesses cannot go without me. I cannot go without the king. And the king will never leave." Indeed, the queen's grace and resolve made her an inspirational figure; Hitler labelled her the most dangerous woman in Europe.

It's uncertain what George VI himself was thinking when musing with the prime minister at Balmoral, whether he was considering Hatley as a home for his own family or as a place to park his brother Edward, the Duke of Windsor. The Mackenzie King diaries indicate the king and queen were worried about the duke, who had ruled as Edward VIII before abdicating the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Edward's resignation ended a constitutional crisis, but ill feelings remained.

On both days of Mackenzie King's visit to Balmoral, the topic of Hatley Park followed discussion of the uncomfortable relationship with the ex-king and his wife, whom the queen described as a bitter woman who "would do anything to make trouble," according to the diary.

By 1941, Edward had been stashed out of harm's way as governor of the Bahamas, although Mackenzie King didn't think much of this. "I told the king that I did not think Nassau was a good place for the Duke, that he was with a bad lot of Americans there," he wrote. His diary also recorded the king and queen's concern that the duke and duchess would created difficulties during a scheduled visit to Canada.

Mackenzie King offered George and Elizabeth his backing. "I then said that when the war was over we would see them both in Canada again and referred to the Dunsmuir residence. The King mentioned that we had been speaking of it and seemed to think that it would be nice if the [governor general] could have a residence of his own in B.C. rather than staying with the lieutenant governor. I said I thought it would make a fine Canadian residence for the King and Queen themselves, that we would welcome the opportunity of arranging it to that purpose."

The queen then turned the conversation to the question of Pacific coast gun batteries and the threat from Japan.

The Japanese did indeed enter the war within months, but never made it to the shores of Colwood. Neither did the royal family.

Still, it's fun to wonder what life would have been like had the house of Windsor moved to the West Shore.

jknox@tc.canwest.com

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