Princess Margriet and Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven to pay official visit to Canada
Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven will pay a visit to Ottawa and Toronto, Canada from 9 May to 13 May. The visit will focus on the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands during the Second World War. It is also a reaffirmation of the Netherlands’ relationship with Canada, where Princess Margriet was born during the war.
On Friday 9 May Princess Margriet and Professor Van Vollenhoeven will meet the mayor of Ottawa, Mark Sutcliffe, and the other members of the city council. The couple will then visit a secondary school, where they will speak with pupils who, together with their teacher, contributed to the Faces to Graves project. The project tells the stories of Canadian soldiers who are buried in the Groesbeek War Cemetery in the Netherlands. That evening there will be a reception for members of the Dutch community in Ottawa and Canadians who have a special bond with the Netherlands.
On Saturday 10 May Princess Margriet will open the Tulip Festival, an annual event in which displays of tulips around the city keep alive the memory of Canada’s role in the liberation of the Netherlands during the Second World War. After the inspection of the troops the Princess will give a brief speech. She and Professor Van Vollenhoeven will then be given a tour of various parts of the festival. That afternoon they will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial.
On Saturday 11 May the couple will visit the exhibition in the Canadian War Museum on the 80th anniversary of the liberation. They will then attend a concert by the Orchestra of the Royal Netherlands Air Force with singer Shirma Rouse titled ‘It's All About Freedom’, in which stories about freedom, resistance and liberation come together.
After a visit to The Ottawa Hospital on Monday 12 May, Princess Margriet and Professor Van Vollenhoeven will fly to Toronto. There, they will be welcomed at the Small Arms Inspection Building, a community centre for arts and culture in Mississauga. Princess Margriet will officially open the exhibition ‘80 Years of Freedom: A Dutch Tribute to Canada,’ which commemorates the Canadian role in the liberation of the Netherlands. It uses a series of modern art objects and portrait photos by Dutch-Canadian photographer Jason van Bruggen to tell the stories behind the war. The exhibition also involves young people in celebrating the liberation by promoting conversations about what it means to defend freedom. Princess Margriet will give a brief speech.
On Tuesday 13 May the Princess and Professor Van Vollenhoeven will conclude their visit with a meeting with veterans of the Second World War and with local secondary school pupils who interviewed veterans and published their accounts online.
Government Information Service, no. 108