Photo: Contributed

As residents in Kelowna and West Kelowna learned first hand yesterday, there is a whole lot of hoopla surrounding the royal visit.

Along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, their entourage, security, RCMP, government officials and participants in each special event, another 489 people were approved for accredited media passes to cover the one-week royal tour.

That is 489 people, including journalists, entertainment reporters, photographers, videographers, producers, etc., who are following the royal couple for all or some of their tour.

The Department of Canadian Heritage notes that some temporary media passes may be given throughout the tour and are not included in the above numbers.

Of the initial 489 media passes given out, the department tells Castanet preliminary numbers show 397 were from Canada, 63 flew in from the United Kingdom and 29 came into Canada from other countries.

The reach and interest of the Duke and Duchess, no matter where they are, is international in scope.

While security could be seen roaming each event from the ground and air to protect the royal couple, they were also behind the scene doing security checks on those allowed close to the Duke and Duchess, including the media.

At each event, each one of those media personnel are checked over by security and must follow specific rules.

For the royal appearance in Kelowna, media were required to be at each event more than an hour before the couple arrived.

In fact, the timing and rules were so tight that a reporter at UBCO could not also cover the the second event at Mission Hill.

At UBC Okanagan, media were all ushered into a room and asked to leave all bags, gear, purses and cameras behind.

After leaving the room there was a quick sweep by an RCMP bomb-trained dog before media were allowed back in the room to retrieve their gear and head out to their designated locations.

While security held tight for the hours before and during the royals short visit, the minute Prince William and Kate left in the motorcade, the fences, the rules and the security were dropped in a instant.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their young children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, will spend eight days in British Columbia with their home base at the official residence of the lieutenant-governor in Victoria.

To check out all of the royal coverage on Castanet.net, click here.