This is old news (currently it's all about Kate being anorexic and pregnant) but when the princely couple was on Canadian territory I couldn't stop ranting about how after coming up with the "How Canadian Are You, eh?" app in January, Citizenship and Immigration Canada launched their second digital tool the "Royal Tour” app for free on itunes. I too asked myself why the Ministry didn’t go straight for the “Tips on How to Reproduce in A Canoe” app, till I realised that the political answer to the Ministry’s first app's title was another of Canada’s idealised traditions: the Royal Family.
I know that the sense of belonging countries provide are not easily defined notions with clear inputs, straightforward mechanisms and direct results. And I have no qualms with the British monarchy particularly: if anything kudos to them for getting the Britons to perpetuate their feudal capitalistic family. Nor do I have qualms with the newly-wedded royal couple enjoying Canada; nor am I arguing that Canadians should deny the importance the British and the Crown played in shaping the country.
My qualms or rather amazement - I'm French originially so all of this royal stuff is amazing - stem more from the degree of pride Canadians and government took with this arrival and visit - as if Canada needed so desperately to be acknowledged by the royal gaze to feel valuable. And not only has the government taken pride in this, it's also done everything to subsidise the tools to encourage its people to believe that the level of this couple’s happiness in the country defines Canadians' worth.
If a star-savy US Weekly or another tabloid sponsored an app to stalk and discuss Kate’s outfits, this would have been another issue all together, but that an elected staff meant to focus on the delicate issue of heritage, collective memory and cultural identity, finds William’s white cowboy hat and the couple’s canoe trips worth a nationhood's attention - that seems ttally wrong or absolutely amazing.
