The first royal tour of North America was made by Prince Albert Edward (the future King Edward VII), eldest son of Queen Victoria. The queen herself had been invited to visit Canada on several occasions in the 1850s, but felt she could not leave Britain for such a long period of time. Instead, it fell to her son, the Prince of Wales, to represent her.

The official purpose of the visit was to open the Victoria Bridge, one of the great engineering wonders of the day. However, it also served to reinforce bonds between Crown and colony and to acknowledge British Canadian efforts in the Crimean War. The itinerary spanned Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada over a period of two months. The prince also visited Niagara Falls and made a brief visit to the United States, where he was a guest of President James Buchanan at the White House.

The tour was a great success and the prince’s affable nature was popular at balls and other events which he attended. This account, probably by the Canadian writer, Henry James Morgan, describes the tour in detail.