| Princess Royal | |
| Location: | North Coast Archipelago (Central Coast) |
| Coordinates: | 52.9167°N -178°W |
| Area Km2: | 2251 |
| Country: | Canada |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Province |
| Country Admin Divisions: | British Columbia |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | Region |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | North Coast |
| Ethnic Groups: | Tsimshian territory |
Princess Royal Island is the largest island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the British Columbia Coast. At 2251km2, it is the fourth largest island in British Columbia.[1] It was named in 1788 by Captain Charles Duncan, after his ship .
The island is located in an extremely remote area of British Columbia, 520km (320miles) north of Vancouver and 200km (100miles) south of Prince Rupert. It is accessible only by boat or air. The Inside Passage ferry and shipping lane runs along its eastern flank, in Princess Royal Channel separating it from the mainland. The island is uninhabited, but used to be home to the community of Surf Inlet, a gold-mining town at the inlet of the same name (though also known as Port Belmont or Belmont), and Butedale, a mining, cannery, fishing and logging town on the island's east coast. The nearest communities today are Klemtu, on Swindle Island and Hartley Bay, on the mainland shore east of Gil Island.
Indigenous reserves on or adjacent to Princess Royal Island are:
Hartley Bay Indian Band reserves:
Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation reserves:
Twelve of the 17 crew of U.S. Air Force 44-92075 were found alive here in 1950, during the first lost nuclear/Broken Arrow episode of the Cold War. The plane itself flew north after the crew bailed out, crashing on Mount Kologet, east of the Nass River to the northwest of Hazelton.
The island's northern tip is Trivett Point, its northwestern tip is Kingcome Point.
The Canoona River drains the central part of the island, flowing east to the sea from Canoona Lake.
The island is classified by the World Wildlife Fund as part of their system's Pacific temperate rain forest ecoregion. In the ecoregion system used by Environment Canada, the island is in the Pacific Maritime Ecozone. In the system of biogeoclimatic zones used by the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, the island is part of the Coastal Western Hemlock zone.
Wildlife on Princess Royal Island includes kermode bears, black bears, grizzly bears, deer, wolves and foxes, and nesting populations of golden eagles, bald eagles, and the endangered marbled murrelet. Marine life around the island includes abundant salmon, elephant seals, orcas and porpoises. Princess Royal Island is a core component of a regional preservationist campaign covering the North and Central Coast, which has been dubbed the Great Bear Rainforest by environmental groups.