Will and Kate take Canada

WRLTHD Headline News

IT did not take long. By the time she had placed one careful, L.K. Bennett-shod foot on her first red carpet, the Duchess of Cambridge had conquered Canada.

It was, admittedly, not the greatest of challenges: rarely in the history of royal tours - certainly not since the days of Charles and Diana - has a nation been so ready and willing to be conquered.

But it was a decisive victory. The roar that went up as the Duke and Duchess swept into Ottawa said it all: a raucous cacophony of wolf-whistles and cheers that said welcome to Canada.
"We love you, Kate" chorused a group of schoolchildren as the couple met veterans at the National War Memorial; then, just in case the message had not got through, they did it again.

As the Duke and Duchess did their first walkabout on foreign soil, a chant of "Kate, Kate" brought back memories of the bad old days of Charles and Diana, when the Princess was all anyone wanted to see. But Canadians are decent folk, not in the business of upsetting anyone, and it was not long before a rival chant went up of "Will, Will." Honours were even.

The couple arrived on an Airbus 310, the Duchess looking rather fresher at the end of her 7hr 40min flight than one might normally expect, but then their entourage - a relatively modest seven - did include the Duchess's personal hairdresser.

 She boarded the flight wearing a navy blue Roland Mouret Manon dress, a navy blazer by the the Toronto label Smythe Les Vestes and a pair of Manolo Blahnik Calogera court shoes. By the time she got off she had changed into a patterned navy and cream lace dress by the Canadian designer Erdem Moralioglu and the cream L.K Bennetts.

For the Canadians it is a great coup to land the couple's first overseas tour of their married life, and not an opportunity to be missed. "They are beautiful," said Denise Turner, 44, who drove nine hours from Windsor, Ontario, to see the royal couple. Some of the 2000-strong crowd had been there since first thing in the morning.

William has been there before, and will not have forgotten the hysteria generated among Canada's schoolgirls when he visited as a 15-year-old with his father and brother in 1998. Almost 1400 journalists, broadcasters and photographers from across the globe are covering the visit - 500 more than for the Queen's visit last year.

 The couple were met off the plane by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird. One long VIP line-up and a short drive later, and the Duke and Duchess were in the centre of Ottawa, where they were greeted by the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

For the couple who will one day be King and Queen of Canada, the first engagement was a serious affair: the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial. During the walkabout the Duchess beamed as she was handed armfuls of flowers and gifts.

The Duchess told the Prime Minister and his wife: 'That was amazing, there were so many people there."

THE TIMES