During their visit to Canada, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne and Sir Tim Laurence visited several organizations in Victoria, Esquimalt, and Saanich.
“All areas of Museum operations were represented amongst volunteers and staff,” said Brittany Vis, Executive Director of the Maritime Museum of BC, “with the weekend commissioning of HMCS Max Bernays and Battle of Atlantic ceremony, there are strong connections to coastal maritime life, work, and experiences and echoes of Royal visits past in Her Royal Highness’ schedule.”
Highlights from Her Royal Highness’ visit included touring a display of artefacts and photos from the 1939 Royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. A dress uniform, resplendent in gold braid, worn by then-Lieutenant James Calcutt Hibbard of Victoria for the presentation of King’s Colours during that visit, was featured on the tour.
Also featured were a group of objects that were part of the founding Collection of the Museum in 1955, when it opened as a naval museum on Signal Hill outside the gates of HMC Dockyard in Esquimalt.
“During their 1951 visit to Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess) and Prince Phillip toured the navy base in Esquimalt–very fitting for Prince Phillip with his naval background. He inquired about a naval museum on this coast. When told there was none, he set about to change that,” said Vis, “When he got home to England he contacted the Greenwich Museum and asked them to send some objects to BC.”
Eventually, the Museum outgrew that space and moved into the Bastion Square courthouse in 1965, and became the Maritime Museum of BC. It is now located downtown Victoria at 744 Douglas Street.
Staff and volunteers also discussed rare books, charts and ongoing digitization projects, research access to the Collection and Archives, and the extensive uniforms and textiles collection.