A public memorial honouring former Alberta premier Ralph Klein began Friday with the skirl of bagpipes, solemn faces and a white hearse, but soon morphed into smiles, laughter and memories about a man who wore his heart — and his province — on his sleeve.“To Albertans he was King Ralph . . . but we said it in a way that we never meant it,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said to laughs from Klein’s friends, colleagues and constituents at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. “He was King Ralph only in the sense of being a king-sized character. But in personality and demeanour he was really, to us, Citizen Ralph,” Harper continued to applause. “He said what he would do and then he did what he said. I admire that. We all admire that.” Klein died March 29 at age 70 after a battle with dementia and lung disease. He was premier from 1992 to 2006. While in office he wiped out Alberta’s $23-billion debt and was seen as the national standard bearer for fiscal prudence and living within one’s means. “He was one of those few individuals you meet in life who don’t need to be referred to by (anything other) than their first name, like Elvis or Tiger,” former Ontario premier Mike Harris told the crowd.