One young Red Deerian had the special honour of meeting Prince William and Catherine this past weekend during the Royals’ visit to Canada.

Tanner Redel, 19, shook hands with the couple along with other political figures and military officials during a private Alberta government reception this past Friday at the Calgary Zoo.

“It was defiantly very awesome to meet the royal couple, but it was even just as cool to meet all the other people who came to see the royal couple,” said Redel.

Redel was invited as a guest of Cal Dallas, MLA for Red Deer South, and got to meet all the other MLAs for Alberta.

“It was exciting to say the least, especially when we were waiting for the Royals to arrive everyone was lining up to be first to shake their hands, but they passed through quickly.”

Redel earned the Duke of Edinburgh Award this past April and completed all the volunteer work required to receive the gold at the age of 18. He was hoping to be presented his award from the royal couple, but this time that was not the case.

The award is presented as the highest honours award for community service and physical fitness.

The requirements Tanner had to meet included a total of 105 hours of community service, 12 days on an “adventurous journey”, 24 months learning or working on a specific skill and 120 hours of physical recreation.

Redel hopes to receive his award the next time a member of the Royal Family is in town and he hopes it might be Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh himself.

“They seem very personable and also it seems they are working very hard at going through and trying to meet as many people as possible. I know how busy they must be of course,” he said.

“Luckily I was able to shake their hands and it was pretty quick because they are busy people. But it was defiantly well worth it to look them right in the eye and see the sincerity in what they are doing and how happy they are to meet the people.”

tsigurdson@reddeerexpress.com