Prince Charles and his wife Camilla wrapped up their visit to Canada Thursday and are heading home to England after a whirlwind 11-day tour.
They boarded their plane at the Ottawa airport this morning after a farewell ceremony.
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a group of spectators were at the airport to send them off.
Earlier in the day Charles planted an oak sapling and greeted children in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa to commemorate their visit.
Wednesday, Charles wore a military uniform and joined Jean to pay tribute to soldiers at the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
During their Canadian tour the royal couple made stops in Ottawa, Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, and St. John's, and toured Olympic sites in Vancouver.
Charles and Camilla were well-received at most of their stops, but were greeted in Montreal by separatist protesters who threw eggs at soldiers and chanted anti-monarchy slogans.
Despite those protests, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said the demonstrations were minimal and the couple "was greeted very warmly by Canadians." He said overall the trip was a success.
During the visit, polls suggested that Prince Charles' and the monarchy's popularity is waning.
In a Harris-Decima poll released Nov. 2, only 31 per cent of respondents said they think Charles should be the next King. Four out of 10 respondents said they'd prefer the crown skip Charles, and go directly to his son William.
Forty-four per cent of those surveyed also said they believe the monarchy is a "relic" of Canada's colonial past.
Fife suggested the apparent lack of attachment to the monarchy may be due to the fact that Canada has many new immigrants with no historical attachment to the crown.
He said however, that the monarchy will likely remain safe for now.
"There is no real drive to get rid of the monarchy and no real sense of 'we want to keep it,'" he said.
Charles seems to have retained popularity in some circles, said Fife. He said soldiers and the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan seemed pleased to meet the Prince at CFB Petawawa.
"These are ordinary folks who served their country and they don't often get to meet royalty," Fife said.
"This was a very memorable moment for them to have Prince Charles and Camilla there to talk to them."
CTV's Graham Richardson, who was at CFB Petawawa told Canada AM said he observed the same sentiment.
"You can talk all you want about the relevancy of the monarchy but watching him and the duchess of Cornwall work the crowd and talk to people, it clearly meant a lot to the people there yesterday," Richardson told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
It was the couple's first visit to Canada since their marriage. It was Prince Charles' 15th visit.
