Former Prime Minister Joe Clark was in London, England on this date in 2013 where he was interviewed by the University of London’s Institute for Commonwealth Affairs. At the top of the interview, in describing his first memories of Canada’s connections to the U.K. and the Commonwealth, he recalled that he was taken by his parents to meet the former King of England.
“My home is in the ranch country of High River (Alberta) and about 22 miles west of us was the Edward Prince of Wales ranch – the “EP Ranch” - that was the western retreat of the [former King Edward VIII],” Clark said. “As a three-year-old, we and other families were invited to visit the ranch to meet the Duke of Windsor. I was wearing short pants and we walked through fields of stubble. I have pictures of my bleeding legs.”
Of course, the interview was more substantial in scope and you can read Mr. Clark’s comments about the Commonwealth and its impacts and importance at this link.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.