What would God think?
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.
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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