News
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Yellowknife, Canada
5th July 2011
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined a group of young people from the Sidedoor Youth Centre who were playing hockey in Yellowknife today, the capital city of the Northwest.
The Duchess joked how she would have gone head-to-head with The Duke in a street hockey penalty shoot-out if it was not for her high-heeled footwear.
The Duke took on the challenge of trying to beat a goalie as the royal couple were welcomed to Yellowknife, with a spectacular display of song, dance and feats of skill by the region's Aboriginal people.
Their Royal Highnesses joined a group of young people who were playing the archetypal Canadian game of street hockey, or "shinny".
Coaching The Duke was Floyd Roland, premier of the Northwest Territories, and a former minor league ice hockey coach and player.
The game is an essential element of Canadian culture with teenagers across the country picking up hockey sticks and hitting balls or pucks on frozen lakes.
Mr Roland took the first few shots and The Duke challenged him to hit a photographer behind the goal "the one in the top corner" and the politician duly obliged to laughter from the royal and his wife.
Yesterday The Duke and Duchess joined opposing dragon boat teams while on Prince Edward Island for a race.
After he and his wife were presented with red Canada ice hockey tops emblazoned with "Cambridge" and the numbers 1 for The Duchess, and 2 for The Duke, His Royal Highness stepped up to the penalty spot.
He faced 6ft 3ins goalie Calvin Lomen, 20, and joked with him: "You realise you've got to let one in."
The Duchess wore a cream linen three quarter length dress by designer Malene Birger.
Before leaving the teenagers, The Duchess started a game of Shinny by dropping a ball between two players and stepped back as the youngsters whacked the fluorescent pink ball around.
Earlier The Duke had praised the region in a short speech telling the hundreds of spectators who had flocked to the open-air space of the Somba K'e civic Plaza from across the area that he was happy to be with them.
He said: "This place is what Canada is all about; vast, open beauty, tough, resilient friendly peoples - true nature, true humanity.
"Thanks to all of you who have travelled such great distances to join us today, Catherine and I are deeply honoured.
"We have been here just 12 hours but we have already sensed the extraordinary potential of this region.
"That irrepressible spirit of adventure that marks out the peoples of the Territories and defines this land. We are so excited to be here."
To cheers he ended by speaking a few words of the local language "Mahsi Cho" - thank you very much.
Around half of the region's population has Aboriginal heritage, and members of the Inuktitut and Chipewyan tribes were among those who welcomed the royal couple to the regional capital.
A group of drummers performed a prayer song for the couple on caribou-skin drums, considered sacred objects by the native people, and dancers from the Inuvialuit tribe danced for Their Royal Highnesses.
Then local teenagers demonstrated their skills in Arctic sports including the Alaskan high kick, which involves balancing on one hand and kicking a target, and the "airplane", a show of strength in which the contestants hold their bodies in a cross shape and are carried horizontally for as long as they can hold the position.
The couple later travelled the short distance to the Provincial Legislative Assembly to meet the province's Youth Parliament.
The building was opened by The Queen in 1994, the last royal tour to the region, and in the centre of its chamber is a polar bear skin, the symbol of the province.
They listened as 18 teenagers sitting in a circle on the floor each gave a statement about what they thought should be done to improve education in the Territories.
The Duke and Duchess' final engagement gave them the opportunity to see the province's sparse landscape, and they flew by boat plane to an island to meet volunteers and officers from the Canadian Rangers and Young Canadian Rangers.
At Blachford Lodge, a tourist retreat used by the educational body Dechinta, which teaches traditional skills and crafts, the royal couple met students learning local indigenous languages, and outside see hides being prepared for clothing and fish being smoked.
St James's Palace announced tonight that the couple had added an extra engagement to their itinerary and will fly to Slave Lake, Alberta, tomorrow to meet rescue workers who fought wildfires that devastated the area last month.
The fire forced the complete evacuation of Slave Lake's 7,000 residents and is considered the largest such displacement in Alberta's history.