Canadian Military to be royal again

In 1968, the then liberal government removed the royal designation from Canada's armed forces when they were amalgamated into just the Canadian Military Forces. This is soon to be reversed by the currect conservative government and the Royal prefix re-added.

This is probably partly due to the welcome Wills and Kate received during their recent tour of Canada, but was also suggested as a recgonition of previous action which was fought as Royal forces.

The Canadian republicans want nothing to do with it, of course, saying that they are their own country and should known as such.

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That seems pretty silly to me. The fact that it's related to the Cambridges' visit strikes me as especially pathetic.

I'm glad to see they're doing that, but I'm into the British monarchy, so no surprise there.

FWIW there are numerous organisations in the Republic of Ireland that still have the Royal in their titles. the Royal Irish Academy of Music is the group I studied piano with. The Royal Hibernian Academy is a prestigious arts group too. There's also the Royal Dublin Golf Club. There are some other examples. Typically these are organisations that have their roots and primary support from the Anglo-Irish who once were ascendant in this country.

I think that the people who feel a strong connection to the military are happy about it. "Royal Canadian Navy" has a feel and a history to it that "Maritime Command" was just never going to achieve.

I have a vague impression that in English Canada, there's a bit of a re-connection going on to the Imperial past, and that French Canada doesn't worry as much about it anymore.