Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip Honour Canadian WW1 Heroes

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended an event at Canada’s High Commission in London on Sunday to honour the First World War contributions of three Canadian regiments. The regiments were the Calgary Highlanders, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Canadian Scottish Regiment.

The Queen is recognised as colonel-in-chief of the Calgary Highlanders. Her husband Prince Philip is colonel-in-chief of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, while Princess Alexandra is colonel-in-chief of the Canadian Scottish Regiment. The Queen wore a white gold and diamond brooch for the ceremony. It was fashioned in the shape of the cap badge of the Highlanders, which is a reserve unit. The brooch, Britain's Daily Telegraph states, was a token that the regiment created especially for her.

Richard Berthelsen, CTV News royal commentator, said it’s not often that the Queen attends an event on a Sunday afternoon in London. But then, she's colonel-in-chief of the regiment. Her presence and position all the more “gives a mark of high esteem for this regiment,” Berthelsen said.

Canadian High Commissioner Gordon Campbell greeted the Royal couple as a crowd of onlookers behind barricades looked on. Later on, the Queen was seen posing for pictures with current members of the Highlanders. Campbell said the Queen’s attendance had been very significant.

"You can just feel, in the room, how important it is to everyone that she is here," Britain's Daily Telegraph quoted Campbell. “It is really an honour and it is the sort of commemorative activity that is important to the soldiers and the service people who are involved."

The Calgary Highlanders, along with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Canadian Scottish Regiment, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 2nd Battle of Ypres, wherein Germany for the first time used chemical weapons in the First World War.

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