Foundations of the Crown in Prince Edward Island What is today Prince Edward Island was discovered and claimed by
John Cabot for
King Henry VII; though, it was in 1523 also claimed by
Giovanni da Verrazzano for
King Francis I, putting
Île Saint-Jean, as Verrazzno called it, under the sovereignty of the French Crown. As a consequence of the
Acadians' refusal to swear allegiance to King
George III and their
subsequent expulsion from British-controlled
Nova Scotia, between 1755 and 1764, Île Saint-Jean's population rose to approximately 5,000. However, these new arrivals found themselves once again under the British Crown following the signing of the 1762
Treaty of Fontainbleau, which transferred sovereignty over the island from King
Louis XV to King George III, who merged it with Nova Scotia. The following year,
the Earl of Egmont presented an elaborate memorial to the King, asking that the Island of Saint John be granted to him and divided into
baronies. After initially denying Egmont's request, George, swayed by Egmont's second petition in 1767, approved. On 19 July 1769, Saint John Island was separated from the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia and became its own colony of the British Crown. During the
American Revolutionary War, which took place between 1775 and 1783,
Charlottetown was raided by a pair of US-employed privateers who imprisoned the colonial administrator,
Phillips Callbeck, standing-in during the absence of
Lieutenant Governor Walter Patterson. Both as the conflict proceeded and after it ended, some 46,000 American settlers loyal to the Crown, known as the
United Empire Loyalists, fled north to the
Maritimes and other colonies in the Canadas. The King-in-Council granted each family of land. Though the majority settled on the mainland, the government of St. John's Island had some success with its effort to attract the exiles, about 2,000 of them immigrating to the colony. One of George III's sons,
Prince Edward, arrived in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1794. Though Edward never visited the island (a planned royal tour in 1800 was cancelled after the Prince was injured in a riding accident), he, as
Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in
North America, ordered that new barracks be built in
Charlottetown and defences constructed to protect the harbour; completed in 1805, this was named the Prince Edward Battery. The gold
lion passant on the
modern arms of the King in right of the province refers to
Prince Edward's coat of arms. Not four years after, the
Legislative Assembly adopted an address to the Queen, asking for the establishment of
responsible government in the colony, as had been done in a number of other jurisdictions in the Canadas, and the request was soon thereafter granted. The Liberal Reform Party won the plurality of seats in the Legislative Assembly in 1850 and made responsible government a key goal. They faced opposition from Lieutenant Governor
Ambrose Lane, but, would not relent and the legislature "virtually went 'on strike'" the following year, voting
non-confidence in the
Executive Council and refusing to pass
supply bills. The impasse was finally overcome when the Lieutenant Governor invited
George Coles to form a PEI's first responsible government. Prince Albert Edward (the future King
Edward VII), the eldest son of, and heir to,
Queen Victoria, landed at Charlottetown, on 10 August 1860, where he was welcomed by
George Dundas, the colony's
Lieutenant Governor, and proceeded to
Government House. There, the Prince held audience with the
Executive Council and, later, attended a formal ball and levee. Albert Edward toured the countryside and visited
Province House, where he received an addresses from the Executive Council. Upon his departure, the Prince left
£150 with the Governor for charitable use. , and
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in
Charlottetown, 2011
The 20th and 21st centuries Prince Albert (later King
George VI) arrived on Prince Edward Island in 1913, while serving as a midshipman aboard the
Royal Navy cruiser , spending some leisure time coaching a cricket match. Queen Elizabeth II attended the 100th anniversary of Prince Edward Island's entry into Confederation. Her son, Prince Charles (now King
Charles III), toured the island in 2014, following his son,
Prince William, and William's wife,
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, who travelled through PEI in 2011. While he was in Charlottetown, William gave a speech at Province House, standing where his ancestor, Prince Edward, had stood 151 years before, and said, "it is quite a moment for Catherine and me to be standing here in the Atlantic Canada, in front of Province House, where Canadian federation was forged [...] Here, in the crucible of Canadian nationhood, we look forward to meeting many of you." at
Holland College, 2014 In 2022, Prince Edward Island instituted a
provincial Platinum Jubilee medal to mark the Queen's
seventy years on the Canadian throne; the first time in Canada's history that a royal occasion was commemorated on
provincial medals. ==See also==