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The Royal Tour of Canada - Day Seven

And on the seventh day she....went to church and the race course...

What would God think?

Britain's Queen Elizabeth receives a gift from an unidentified woman in the crowd outside St. James Cathedral in Toronto July 4, 2010, where she attended morning church services with her husband Prince Phillip.  REUTERS/Fred Thornhill (CANADA - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS) When the Queen and Prince Philip attended mass at St. James Cathedral in Toronto the pews were filled to capacity. Seems that everyone had found religion for one day. An 'security breach' occured in what was otherwise a fairly unremarkable visit when a woman broke free of the waiting crowd, and approached the Queen with a black plastic bag in her hand. The woman handed the Queen the bag and was ushered away. The contents of this 'security breach'?

A commemorative St. James Cathedral tea towel.

Maybe the woman should have used something less suspicious looking, like a white plastic bag, or an environmentally friendly reusable grocery bag. I can only imagine how this 'breach' would have been labelled had it been a small child approaching the Queen.

No such security issues occured later on in the day when the couple attended the 151st running of The Queen's Plate. The last time she had attended was in 1997. With an estimated 25,000 people in attendance, security was extremely tight. Good luck trying to get anywhere near her, even if you are a small child with an innocuous grocery bag.

TORONTO, ON - JULY 04: Jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva bows as Queen Elizabeth II presents him with the Queen's Plate as they attend the Woodbine Racetrack for 151st Running of The Queen s Plate Stakes on July 4, 2010 in Toronto, Canada. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are on an eight day tour of Canada starting in Halifax and finishing in Toronto. The trip is to celebrate the centenary of the Canadian Navy and to mark Canada Day. On July 6th The royal couple will make their way to New York where the Queen will address the UN and visit Ground Zero. (Photo by Chris Jackson-Pool/Getty Images) But the event was not without incident. As the Queen presented the winning trophy to the Queen's Plate winner Big Red Mike, the owner of the horse, Dom Romeo, placed his arm on the Queen's back. Oh, the horror! This is not the first time the Queen has been physically touched by a Canadian. During a previous visit in 2002 when Canadian cyclist Louis Garneau inadvertently broke royal protocol by placing his arm around Her Majesty as his wife took a picture.

I'm wagering a guess that the Queen doesn't mind these 'incidents' and afer 84 years has learnt to take them in stride, especially when it comes from a Canadian.

Considering that she's visited Canada more often than any other Commonwealth country, why else would she keep coming back?

© Marilyn Braun 2010

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