Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have encountered a group of anti-royalty protesters, including egg throwers, who shouted "Majesty go home" and blocked the entrance to a military armoury the royal couple were visiting.

Neither member of the British royal family were soiled or hurt during the incident, but they had to be escorted to a back door of the armoury, where Prince Charles presented new colours to the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, which he formally commands.

More than 200 demonstrators bearing billboards urging Montreal and Quebec to break away from the British Commonwealth sat on the pavement outside the armoury, squaring off with anti-riot police who, in the end, called in reinforcements to clear the way.

Some eggs were hurled at police during the altercation and police detained three people for questioning before the protesters were forced back 100 metres from the building.

But the damage was done. Prince Charles, in full Black Watch uniform, and the Duchess of Cornwall were ensconced as a precaution to a rear entrance, foregoing the lavish welcoming ceremony that was prepared for them.

The demonstration was organised by the Quebecois Network of Resistance, a small Quebec nationalist group opposing two-and-a-half centuries of British rule in Canada.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, met in Ottawa with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who gave him two red sweaters and caps worn by Inuit Rangers to take home to his sons as souvenirs of his visit.

"Your Highness, as you know we're very proud of our Rangers and our Rangers programme," Harper said, flanked by four Rangers in the drawing room of the governor general's mansion.

They are "a great group of people who patrol our vast Arctic territory," he said, adding the sweaters and caps symbolised Princes William and Harry's honorary membership in the Arctic guard.

"I hope they fit," quipped Prince Charles.

The prince and his wife Camilla arrived in Canada on 2 November for a 10-day visit — his 15th tour of this former British colony and her first look into her family's roots.

So far they have visited Canada's oldest English settlement in Cupids, Newfoundland, which celebrates its 400th anniversary next year, and the home of famed Arctic explorer Captain Robert Bartlett in Brigus.

They also toured Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Village and Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario, built in 1835 for Camilla's great-great-great-grandfather and former prime minister of the united Province of Canada, Sir Alan MacNab.

On Tuesday, the couple also met with Governor General Michaelle Jean, as well as Canada's opposition leader Michael Ignatieff and Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

AFP

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