OTTAWA - The great-great-great grandson of Queen Victoria stood before Canada's Parliament on Thursday and saluted his ancestor's decision to place it in Ottawa.
Prince Edward attended a tree-planting ceremony to help commemorate the 150th anniversary of the royal decree that made Ottawa the national capital.
He mingled with a few onlookers and - standing in a cold drizzle - poked fun at the Canadian weather.
"I wish you the very best of luck with all the events you're planning (this year) - especially for December," Edward told the small crowd of about three dozen.
"If it's like this in October, I wonder what you're going to be doing in December. But anyway..."
The official declaration came on Dec. 31, 1857, in a letter from colonial secretary Henry Labouchere to Edmund Head, governor general of what was then a British territory.
He wrote that he was commanded by Victoria to announce that: "In the judgment of her Majesty, the city of Ottawa combines greater advantages than any other place in Canada for the permanent seat of the future government of the province and is selected by her Majesty accordingly."
It was far from an obvious choice at the time.
The selection of a rough-and-tumble logging town came as a shock to many in Toronto, Montreal, and in the larger cities dotting the Atlantic coast.
Edward observed that the tiny outpost of 1857 has undergone great changes.
"It's come a long way - and so has Canada in that time," he said.
Popular wisdom suggests Victoria simply plucked a random spot between Montreal and Toronto to serve as a compromise choice.
But the head of the National Capital Commission called Ottawa a fitting symbolic choice, perched as it is on the border between predominantly French-speaking Quebec and predominantly anglophone Ontario.
"This was a visionary decision. One-hundred fifty years ago Ottawa was little more than a wilderness lumber town," said commission chair Russell Mills.
"Since then the capital has evolved into a world-class destination that reflects the values and fabric of the country.
"It's part of a beautiful region that unites two provinces, two cities, and two founding cultures and languages."
Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth, helped unveil a commemorative plaque, and tossed two loads of dirt onto a potted pine tree. He joked about being fascinated by a metallic device perched next to the tree: the stand that held his shovel.
"I was just admiring this rather splendid invention," Edward said.
"I'd never seen a spade stand before. It's really quite ingenious. Somebody ought to patent that one."
Afterwards, Environment Minister John Baird, an Ottawa MP, squired the prince around and held an umbrella over his head as he shook hands with veterans at the National War Memorial.
