A 21-gun salute will welcome the Princess Royal to Victoria this weekend

The sounds of a 21-gun salute will echo through the Esquimalt Harbour this weekend to welcome the Princess Royal in Victoria.

The 21-gun salute will be conducted by the members of the Naval Fleet School who have just wrapped up rehearsals on Wednesday, May 1 at the Black Rock naval battery.

“There’s excitement in the air. It’s fairly significant because we haven’t done one of these since last year; we haven’t done the 21-gun salute for a royalty for a very long time,” said Gun Crew Commander Harry Brand of the Naval Fleet School Esquimalt.

“I can’t remember the last time when it was done.”

On Saturday, May 4, at 10:30 a.m., Princess Anne will arrive at His Majesty’s Canadian Dockyard at the Canadian Forces Base in Esquimalt onboard His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Max Bernays.

RELATED: HMCS Max Bernays arrives at the Esquimalt harbour

The princess will be accompanied by her husband, Tim Laurence, on a three-day trip starting May 3.

Their itinerary also includes a visit to the archives and collections space of the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria, which was founded with an initial donation by the princess’s late father, Prince Philip.

A commemorative service marking the Battle of the Atlantic at the British Columbia Legislature is also scheduled where she will pay respects and lay a wreath at the God’s Acre Veterans Cemetery.

The Princess Royal will also visit the FED Urban Agriculture farm to learn more about local sustainable food practices.

Alistair Howes, FED Agriculture Society’s manager of special projects and engagements tells CHEK, “we’re just gonna do a little overview of what’s happening at the farm and then a walk through the site looking at the base of the operations, how it all came to be and some of our other programming.”

“We’ll take the princess and her husband, Tim, through the gardens and over to our market space before heading back to the base shipping container where our little processing facility with a walk-in fridge is.”

The weekend will also feature a visit to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club on Sunday afternoon, May 5.

“We just celebrated our 132nd opening day last weekend. It’s the official opening of our season. This coming weekend is our Spring Dhingy Championship which is a B.C. qualifier for sailors to come and get qualified for the B.C. games,” said Vice-Commodore Dale Gann.

“The Royal Canadian Navy Sea Cadets will be sailing and Princess Anne will award the top sailor after the weekend.”

Here are some of the other stops on the Princess Royal’s full three-day schedule:

• A visit the Military Family Resource Centre

• A visit to the Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association

• A meeting with Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin and various British Columbia community leaders

Princess Anne’s visit is being hosted by the Royal Canadian Navy.

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