The whereabouts of a coral necklace said to ward off evil spirits that adorned
the neck of the Duchess of Cornwall's great-great grandmother aren't known, but
the royal couple are sure of one thing.
It's "not with us," Camilla said with
a smile Thursday as she and Prince Charles toured Dundurn Castle.
The castle was home to Sir Allan
Napier MacNab, Canada's pre-Confederation prime minister from 1854 to 1856 and
the duchess's great-great-great grandfather.
As the royals toured the opulent home
in this southern Ontario city, they first stopped at a portrait of MacNab. Their
gaze then turned to a painting of his daughter, Sophia, which hangs in the
sitting room where she was married.
Curator Ken Heaman gave the couple a
short briefing on the necklace's rumoured ability to keep evil at bay, adding he
wished he knew where it was now - the musing that led to Camilla's comment,
which also brought a grin to the lips of the prince.
The castle visit was part of the
royal couple's 11-day Canadian tour, their first visit as a married couple.
Outside, an excited crowd greeted the
royals and Charles went out to meet the emotional onlookers, shaking hands with
many of them.
Later they visited the HMCS Haida,
where they both took turns firing four-inch guns on the top deck of the ship.
Camilla put her hands over her ears
to brace for the sound, so Charles went first. He assured his wife that "it's
only a small one."
While the prince's gun wasn't very
loud, Camilla pulled the trigger on the second, which was quite a bit louder,
and she laughed.
The couple began their Canadian trip
Wednesday in Newfoundland and will make several stops in Ontario, British
Columbia and Montreal before ending their tour Nov. 12 in Ottawa.
Camilla's trip to Dundurn Castle
allowed the duchess to reconnect with her Canadian roots, and she asked numerous
questions about the house and its history.
Tom Minnes, the curatorial assistant
at Dundurn, says the duchess's great-great-great grandfather was an early nation
builder, sowing the seeds of Confederation through railways.
MacNab also helped suppress the Upper
Canada Rebellion of 1837, for which he was knighted in 1838 by Queen Victoria.
MacNab's family came to Canada from
Scotland and he was born in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont., in 1798.
Minnes says he is also notably
referred to as the "boy hero of the War of 1812," having served at the age of
14.
Charles was to visit a winery college
in the Niagara region and the royal couple were to return to Toronto to make a
presentation later Thursday to the Royal Regiment of Canada and the Toronto
Scottish Regiment.