White on white

Everything was in white for the Queen’s visit to Research In Motion yesterday: a white lab coat for the 30-minute plant tour on the aptly named Phillip Street and white gloves on Her Majesty’s hands to receive the white BlackBerry given as a gift. Even the Porter Airlines aircraft that flew Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip to the local airport was white.

The Queen was welcomed by thousands of local residents, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and other politicians, as well as Mike Lazaridis, RIM co-CEO and co-founder, who invited his parents, Dorothy and Mike, to the occasion.

The Queen even got to participate in the inspection process, pressing a key on a BlackBerry as part of the final check of the device. The excitement continues today when Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits the Perimeter Institute. Among the physicists currently working at the Institute, founded by Lazaridis, is Stephen Hawking who came a long way from his usual post in Britain to be in the same city as Her Majesty.