 | |
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
flashing a smile as her car drives away
photo - nhg
|
Today, I had the amazing opportunity to be in the presence of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands during her local visit for a tree planting in Burlington's Apeldoorn Park. She has long been my favourite Royal, perhaps because we share a common place and circumstance of birth: We were both born in Ottawa Ontario Canada while our families were living away from home.
Princess Margriet was born to Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard while the Dutch Royal family were living in Canada during the WWII Nazi Germany occupation of The Netherlands. The government of Canada temporarily granted international territory status to the maternity ward of Ottawa's Civic Hospital, so that the newborn member of the Royal family would descend solely from and with the citizenship of her Dutch mother.
I was born in the Grace Salvation Army Hospital, many years later, while my parents were living in Ottawa due to my father’s work. They had previously been stationed in North Bay, Haileybury, Cobalt and New Liskeard; drawing the line at a transfer to Kapuskasing, which my mother believed to be too far north to allow for occasional visits home.
Just as Princess Margriet journeyed with her parents to their home in The Netherlands after the war, I travelled with my parents back to their Hamilton home and family. I suspect that Princess Margriet remembers little of life as a very young child in Canada’s capital city: I remember none. That said, our roots run deep, and their growth begins in Ottawa.
The hundreds of thousands of tulips in Ottawa are an ongoing gift from the Dutch royal family and the Dutch Bulb Growers Association, in recognition of the care and consideration given to Princess Margriet and her family during their stay in Canada and the role Canadians played in the liberation of The Netherlands. Seeing Princess Margriet today, surrounded by Apeldoorn tulips and so close to my home, was a chance to come full circle with a piece of history that has always intrigued me.
Princess Margriet, dressed in a bright red suit and wearing a white floral fascinator was lovely and stylish, gracious and humble, and in possession of one of the most engaging smiles I’ve ever seen. I hope she’ll continue to return to Canada for many more years to come.
 |
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands,
surrounded by Apeldoorn Tulips, clearly enjoying her 2017-05-16 visit to Burlington's Apeldoorn Park
photo - nhg
|
