Prior to his ascension to the British throne, Edward, Prince of Wales, undertook a two month tour across Canada in 1919. The Prince placed the first stone at the base of a statue dedicated to his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, on the front lawn of the Parliament Buildings. However, one small problem was that the statue would not arrive for another two years due to the industrial challenges of post-war England.
Instead, the Prince laid a stone in an empty plinth made of blue granite. The Queen Victoria Statue still stands today and continues to reflect the impact that the Royal Family has had on British Columbia. In fact, it was Queen Victoria who gave British Columbia its name, and the city of Victoria is named in her honour.
The Prince of Wales with dignitaries in Victoria, 1919.
