Royal welcome for Charles and Camilla as Canada shows little sign of shunning the monarchy
One of the advantages of travelling with a Prince who personally promotes farmers' markets and locally produced food is that you get to go to a lot of farmers' markets and see producers of local food.
And so today, in the aptly named Prince Edward County in Ontario, Prince Charles and Camilla made their way through the food and drink at market stalls and then met local wine producers at a vineyard.
One thing you notice on these visits is how the Prince of Wales talks to the stall holders but samples very little while the Duchess of Cornwall talks to the stall holders and samples more often.
The Prince is famous for working through lunch without any food.
His wife however, more like the rest of us, is keen to keep up her blood sugar levels.
And so camomile cake, and butterscotch nibbles was sampled by Camilla and wood fired pizza was offered and taken for her security team.
Charles limited himself to a strawberry or two.
I followed the example set by the Duchess (the camomile cake was very good).
But anyhow, I was here to work so back to the important matters of the moment.
The Prince and Duchess are here representing the Queen as this nation celebrates its 150th birthday.
The Queen is still the head of state of Canada.
And the reaction to Charles and Camilla from the crowd on this island on Lake Ontario surprised me.
We witnessed the kind of reception you routinely see with Prince William and Kate.
People were genuinely excited to be meeting the heir to the British throne.
And they jumped up and down with anticipation when Camilla walked towards them for a brief chat.
One day, Charles will be this country's head of state, like his mother is now.
But I spotted no appetite among the Canadians I met to change their constitutional monarchy.
The ties to the British Crown were kept when Canada became self-governing upon its creation in 1867.
Do they question why a British monarch living thousand of miles away is still their head of state?
A little.
Do they think they should now start to look again at their 150 year old relationship with Britain?
A bit.
But are they convinced their set up sets them apart from their southerly neighbour, the USA?
Yes.
The most common response I got from the dozens of Canadians I spoke to was: we would rather have the Queen as our head of state than someone like Donald Trump.
Of course, this royal visit was to Ontario and it's not a province known for its anti-monarchy sentiment.
I could have received an entirely different response in Quebec.
But as this country prepares to celebrate its sesquicentennial anniversary, in which two British Royals will take centre stage, I don't detect any appetite for severing Canada's link with The Royal Family which has survived for the past 150 years.