In 1919, on a Canadian goodwill tour after the First World War, the Prince of Wales who would later briefly become King Edward VIII bought a working cattle ranch in the foothills south of High River, Alberta. He paid for it with his own money. He kept it for thirty-seven years. He returned to it more than once during his life. The E.P. Ranch, named for Edward Prince, is one of the most unusual pieces of Alberta heritage real estate in the country.
How a British royal ended up owning Alberta land
The future Edward VIII spent six weeks touring Canada in the autumn of 1919 as a public diplomacy gesture from the British Crown. The tour was a deliberate effort to rebuild imperial connection with the dominions after the war. The Prince spent time in Edmonton and Calgary and made an unscheduled visit to the Bar U Ranch in the foothills. He was struck by the country, by the working ranch operation, and by the foothills landscape generally.
Within weeks of returning to Britain, the Prince instructed his Canadian aide to find him a working ranch he could buy. The Bedingfeld Ranch, an established cattle operation on Pekisko Creek a short distance from the Bar U, came on the market. The Prince bought it in November 1919 for roughly fifty thousand dollars. He renamed it the E.P. Ranch.
How the ranch actually operated
- The Prince employed a working ranch manager and a small staff to run cattle and horses year-round.
- The ranch was profitable in some years and a loss in others. It was never run as a vanity property.
- Cattle from the E.P. Ranch were sold through the normal Alberta market channels.
- The Prince returned to the ranch on four separate visits over the following decades, including in 1923, 1924, 1927, and 1941.
- After his abdication in 1936, he continued to own the ranch as the Duke of Windsor.
Why he eventually sold
The Duke of Windsor finally sold the E.P. Ranch in 1962 to the Cartwright family, who continued to operate it as a working cattle ranch. The sale price was reported at the time as substantially less than the property’s market value. The Duke had carried the property for forty-three years through several economic cycles. The land has remained a working ranch under various owners since.
The site was designated a Provincial Historic Resource on February 10, 2004, and is listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places as Site ID 1171. The designation covers the heritage value of the original ranch house, several outbuildings, and the working landscape that the Prince personally selected.
What this ranch says about Alberta
Here is the heritage buff opinion. Alberta has a long history of attracting capital and people from far outside the province. The E.P. Ranch is one of the most visible examples. A future King of England spent his own money on a working cattle operation in the foothills because the country impressed him and the work appealed to him.
That is not nostalgia. That is the same instinct that still pulls capital into Alberta from across the country and beyond. The foothills did not change. The cattle industry did not change much. The reason a young British royal bought a working ranch here in 1919 is the same reason that working ranchers from across western Canada still relocate to the area today. The country pulls people in.
The E.P. Ranch is not open to the public, but the heritage designation protects the site. The story is one of the more interesting pieces of Alberta history hiding in the foothills south of High River.
Related reading from the series. Cochrane Ranche and how Alberta’s ranching industry got off the ground. Bar U Ranch and Alberta’s cattle history.
