Royal couple tours Olympic village and mugs with 2010 Olympic mascots
Published Saturday November 7th, 2009
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Prince Charles set pomp aside and had Vancouver hearts glowing Saturday, putting people at ease by hamming it up with dancing Olympic mascots and trying on fuzzy Maple Leaf-adorned mittens with his wife Camilla.
Miga, Quatchi and Sumi wiggled, bowed and giggled before the royal couple at a stop during their tour of the Olympic village, delighting the pair with their antics.
Charles grinned wide, asking about their origins and pointing at one in amusement as the couple was flanked by the cuddly Olympic characters for a photo opportunity.
Although the couple started the visit under a grey sky and drizzle, their faces shone with perpetual smiles.
"We call this our West Coast sunshine. Just like England, isn't it?" a First Nations drummer told Camilla after greeting them with a traditional performance.
Both held umbrellas as they strolled between points of interest at the Olympic village, the site where athletes will stay during the Vancouver 2010 Games next February. They often paused to chat with excited Union Jack-waving spectators.
"I dream about Charles very often, I dream I am in the royal family and so I wanted to see him in person," said elderly Teresa Tulett, watching from the sidelines. "My dream came true."
Crossing a bridge along the nearby seawall the couple stopped to admire a First Nations art installation, a stainless steel Salish North Star inscribed in a maple leaf. Then they asked its creator, Wade Baker, to spin around and display a green, yellow and black "royal robe" draped over his back and shoulders.
"They realized there is royalty over this side of the pond too," Baker said after the encounter.
After congratulating several Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Charles and Camilla slipped their hands into giant red-knitted mittens.
"Lovely," said the Duchess of Cornwall, as she open and closed her palms, showing off the Olympic rings-stitched gift presented by Premier Gordon Campbell.
Charles spent much of his day gleaning knowledge about the environmental and sustainable innovations of the city, in which he takes a special interest.
"He's very personable and he obviously knew what he was talking about," said Ian Smith, manager of development for the Olympic village, after answering numerous queries by the prince about a model of the village.
"Prince Charles is by far my most favourite royal," said spectator Lisa MacFarlane. "Mostly because he's been a voice for the environment for decades."
Camilla split off from her husband in the afternoon to see the VanDusen botanical gardens and a mobile research lab focused on osteoporosis.
Charles, meanwhile, took his time probing young entrepreneurs on details of the businesses they started with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.
"I thought he was extremely warm, it was very intimate even though there was such a barrage of people," said Chelsey MacNeil from St. John's, who started Model Citizens, a vintage clothing resaler.
April Glavine, from Nova Scotia, said the "nice, big-hearted and very genuine," prince expressed real interest in her company, which sells healthy vending products.
"I was like, 'OK, stop asking me questions now,"' she exclaimed.
Charles laughed and poked feathers sprouting from the top of a white hat known as a "fascinator," made as a gift for Camilla by a Toronto entrepreneur, which the prince pronounced as "marvellous."
"(The couple) looked exactly as I thought they would, but Charles didn't look as old as I thought he would," noted spectator Marie Payne, adding she was glad the couple will be in the country during Remembrance Day.
Julian Key, 15 and a self-proclaimed royalist, sported a Union Jack sweatshirt and had stars in his eyes.
"It was thrilling to see them that close, it's my first royal sighting," he said.
Charles also toured a health care facility, sipping tea by a roaring hearth, and briefly shared his views on sustainable urban development at a conference held by Simon Fraser University.
He told delegates he believes it's crucial to consider the story about the way people live.
"(It) seems to me that we could do with rediscovering our intimate connection with nature, at a time when the world is facing so many enormous challenges over climate change and environmental crises of one kind or another," he said.
While this is Charles fifteenth visit to Canada, it is his wife's first trip.
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