"We will never bend, Willy go home!" some 60 of protesters shouted outside a Montreal children's hospital the royal couple visited. "French Quebec!" and "Parasite go home!" they chanted.

The group pounded on buckets as the couple entered the hospital without acknowledging them, drowning out a much larger group of well-wishers, many of whom cried out "We love you Kate!"

More protests are expected on the royal couple's next stop in Quebec City on Sunday.

Britain conquered Quebec, a former French colony, in 1763, but its culture and language survived and today it is a bastion of French culture in North America.

British rule, however, still evokes resentment in some quarters of the Canadian province.

Saturday's demonstration was organized by a group whose stated objective is the defense of the French language in North America.

AFP