Will and Kate, y’all come back now

The Royal couple has wrapped up their eight day tour of Canada, meeting hundreds of thousands of people along the way.

“I can’t stress enough how down to earth they are. It’s like they’re not even royalty. They’re really treating this as just trying to be part of normal culture and people,” Scott Byrne said.

The bullfighter with Prince Albert roots and his two young sons all performed for Prince William and his wife Kate at the Calgary Stampede Thursday night.

“The biggest memory I’ll take from it is that (Prince William) actually got down and got in the arena and jumped up on the shoots and helped pull a rope and just kind of was one of the guys,” Byrne said.

Byrne said he know they were impressed and had a great time. A 15 minute demonstration of bucking broncos and sheep riding turned into nearly 45 minutes of hands-on experience for the royals.

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“William actually got up on the shoots and pulled a bull rider’s rope and kind of learned how they get on and everything. He was right down in the guts of it all. He talked to a couple of the bull riders afterwards and said he was totally impressed and would like to learn more about the sport.”

Byrne said the royal couple were so down to earth and were the kind of people you would just want to hang out with all day.

What he heard when he talked to reporters who had been with the royal couple throughout the Canadian tour is that they really had a fun time visiting Canada and want to come back soon.

sfroese@panow.com