Princess Margriet of the Netherlands is coming home this week.
The 67-year-old Dutch monarch will be touring the city of her birth to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.
During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the Dutch royal family lived in exile in Ottawa.
Princess Margriet was born at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, which was temporarily declared Dutch territory so she could remain in succession for the throne.
During this visit, Princess Margriet and her husband, Pieter van Vollenhoven, will be attending a number of public events to mark the anniversary of the liberation.
Today, she will be planting a tree in memory of Canada’s fallen soldiers at the Royal Canadian Legion in Kanata and meeting with students from Ottawa at the Canadian War Museum to discuss their impressions of the liberation commemoration ceremony that the students attended in the Netherlands earlier this month.
Tomorrow, the princess will visit with veterans who were actively involved in the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the Second World War at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre.
On Thursday morning, she will pay homage to Canadian liberators who fought and gave their lives for the freedom of her country by laying a wreath at Beechwood National Cemetery.
