A Message from
HRH Charles
Prince of Wales
The Friends of Laura Secord are pleased and honoured to announce the receipt of a personalized video message from His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, on the occasion of the Bicentennial Celebrations for Laura Secord’s famous walk into history and the official opening of the Laura Secord Legacy Trail.
Video was recorded 07 June 2013 at St. James’ Palace. First viewed publicly on Friday, 21 June 2013 at the Toast to Laura Secord reception beside the Laura Secord Monument at picturesque Queenston Heights Park, Queenston, Ontario.
A note on pronunciation
HRH Prince Charles uses an acceptable but less widely used variant on the pronounciation of Laura Secord’s surname, one which is more common in the United Kingdom than in North America. The ancestors of Laura’s husband James Secord were Huguenots (French Protestants) with the original surname Sicard. In the late 1600s, Ambroise Sicard, a French Huguenot born in Mornac, France in 1631, fled from the persecution that followed the Treaty of Nantes, and in the 17th century ended up at New Rochelle. Some of his descendents (like James and his family) became United Empire Loyalists living in Upper Canada. Most of the Secords in Southwestern Ontario are descended from three of Ambroise Sicard’s great-grandchildren – John, Peter, and James Secord (Laura Secord’s husband).
In addition to evolving towards a more Anglicized spelling, the Secord surname has also undergone changes in pronunciation. Most commonly pronounced as ‘SEE-cord’, it is also pronounced by some family members as ‘SEH-cord’. Other pronunciation variants exist worldwide, notably in Guatemala and Norway, where members of the extended Secord family are known to reside.
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