Discover Toronto's Railway Heritage!
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Royal Train Tours of Canada in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II
May 19, 2022 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Join us! “Royal Trains Tours of Canada in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II” on May 19th at 7 pm EST.
We’re so excited to announce Royal Train Tours of Canada in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II, our upcoming online lecture! Author and royal historian Dr. Carolyn Harris will profile our country’s rich royal ties to traveling by rail with an overview of royal tours of Canada.
Join us on May 19 online for the next lecture in our 2022 series: Royal Trains Tours of Canada in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Even with train travel no longer central to royal tours as air travel took centre stage, railway history continued to be part of Canadian royal tours including at Expo 67 and the silver jubilee in 1977.
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 for this 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 7pm Eastern Standard Time, and will end at 8:30pm EST.
Dr. Carolyn Harris is an instructor in history at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. She received her Ph.D in European history from Queen’s University in 2012. Her writing concerning the history of monarchy in the UK, Europe, and Canada has appeared in numerous publications including the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, Smithsonian Magazine and the BBC History Magazine, and she is the author of 3 books: Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada, Queenship and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: Henrietta Maria and Marie Antoinette and Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting. She is currently co-editing a book series about royal consorts, English Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty. She lives in Toronto.
ABOUT THE TORONTO RAILWAY MUSEUM (TRM)
The Toronto Railway Museum (TRM) brings people together by telling stories of Toronto’s railway heritage. The Museum is located in the heart of downtown Toronto and is typically open year-round. TRM presents exhibits, tours, educational programs and publications that broaden the understanding and appreciation of Toronto’s rich railway history. TRM is committed to telling the stories of the railways, and welcoming conversations of its varied experiences through its lecture series, exhibits and integrated programming with a mission to learn from the past to make the future better.
The Toronto Railway Museum would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Community Building Fund. More information is available here.
