Mayor Nolan Crouse is hoping to welcome some very special newlyweds to the community this summer, making the pitch to have Prince William and his soon-to-be bride Kate Middleton visit St. Albert.
Crouse let council know this week he is lobbying for the visit to the city as part of the couple’s cross-Canada tour announced earlier this month.
William, the future king, and Middleton are set to wed on April 29. They announced their first official royal tour will be to Canada between June 30 and July 8.
While few details of the trip have been confirmed the couple will be visiting Alberta, as well as Quebec, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and the North West Territories.
Crouse said he started working on the invite as soon as he found out the couple would be visiting Canada.
“As soon as the provincial announcement was made, I did some work and made some contacts both with the province and with Ottawa.”
Crouse said the offer, along with others, has been taken under advisement and now he is just waiting to hear what the next step will be.
“We were on the list of considerations for St. Albert to be considered to be on the path or the route.”
Crouse said very little is known about the trip so far.
“What they have told us is there are no details whatsoever on the itinerary. They don’t even know if they are coming to the Edmonton area or the Calgary area.”
Crouse said with the city celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, he believes it would be nice to add a royal visit.
“If it is the Edmonton area then we can make a pretty strong pitch for St. Albert because it is our 150th.”
Margaret Plain, chair of the Rendezvous 2011 committee, the group organizing the anniversary events, said she would welcome the visit and believes it would be nice to cap off a significant milestone for St. Albert with a significant visit.
“Compared to urban settlements in England we are babies, but nonetheless we are old for our part of the world.”
Plain said she doesn’t know what chance the city has but hopes the couple gets some say in where they will make their travels.
“I guess it would be a case of where they are going to have their attention focused, be it more Calgary or Edmonton and what the young couple would be interested in seeing, not just what other people might determine that they should see.”
Crouse said the invite is little more than an idea at this stage and he has no idea what it might entail.
“We would hope they would be able to come to city hall in some fashion. We did the Olympic torch in city hall so that would likely be what the vision would be.”
In terms of costs or security arrangement for such a visit, he is not sure what might be involved, but he isn’t focusing on that at this early stage.
“I don’t know if it is too much work, I don’t know if it is too expensive, I don’t know who bears the cost. I am not interested in the negative side of it — I am only interested in the positive side at this time.”
