Prince William and his bride Catherine charmed a crush of well-wishers in Quebec City on Sunday as police lines kept republican protests far from their first official foreign trip as newlyweds.
The duchess of Cambridge, sporting a blue lace Jacquenta dress by Canadian designer Erdem, accepted flowers from wide-eyed young girls as her husband the duke exchanged polite banter and shook hands with fans outside city hall.
William, who spoke in French and apologised for his awkward accent, thanked supporters for their warm welcome, coming one day after anti-monarchist protests in Montreal marred their tour of Canada.
"I hope that we will have the chance to get to know each other over the years to come," he said, pledging to return to the city, once the cradle of French civilisation in North America that spanned from Acadia in easternmost Canada to Louisiana in the southern United States.
As the prince spoke, a small plane passed overhead dragging a banner across the sky touting a controversial phrase delivered by French president Charles de Gaulle in Montreal in 1967, "Long live a free Quebec."
But it was as close to disrupting the royal visit as protestors would get.
A few blocks away, some 200 republican demonstrators with placards that read "end to the monarchy" and "William go home" jeered and chanted for an independent Quebec but were drowned out by well-wishers' cheers.
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