Commissioners Park in Ottawa is one of the major viewing area during the annual Canadian Tulip Festival, the world's largest tulip festival.
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| Commissioners Park, Ottawa |
The Canadian Tulip Festival takes place near the end of May and it is an annual event in Ottawa.
There is a great friendship story between two nations: Netherlands and Canada.
On May 10,1940, Nazi Germany invaded Netherlands and the Dutch faced a brutal occupation.
Vulnerable groups of people were targeted by the Nazi and those caught were imprisoned and deported to concentration camps.
During the Second World War, 75% of the Netherlands' Jewish population were killed.
In all, 230,000 Dutch died from violence, starvation and privations of war.
During the WWll, Canada was a refuge for Crown Princess Juliana and her two young princesses, Beatrix and Irene of Netherlands.
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| Over 300,000 tulips have been planted in the Commissioners Park |
The family rented a house near Rockcliffe Park, attended by a small household staff and lived humbly. The children attended the nearby Rockcliffe Public School.
During their stay in Canada, a new princess was to be born on Canadian soil.
In order to ensure the legitimacy of full Dutch citizenship, the maternity ward of the Ottawa Civic Hospital was declared officially as temporary Dutch territory so that the princess could be born on Dutch soil to guarantee her full Dutch citizenship rights.
Princess Margaret was born on
January 19, 1943 at the hospital, the only royalty ever born in Canada.
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| Netherlands' Royal Family sent a thank you gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada in 1945 |
Princess Juliana was grateful for what Canada did for her during her time of need.
To show their appreciation to Canada, the Dutch Royal Family sent a gift of 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada upon their return to Netherlands.
Princess Juliana promised to send 10,000 of tulips bulbs to Canada every year after that.
Malak Karsh, a Canadian photographer took some stunning pictures of the tulips in front of the Canadian parliament buildings.
He also proposed to the Ottawa Board of Trade that a Tulip Festival be held in the capital city of Ottawa.
Hence in 1953, the first Canadian Tulip Festival was born and Ottawa has been holding this festival ever since!
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We were in Ottawa this year a day after the Tulip Festival.
We missed all the entertainment; the display booths at the festival were dismantled.
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Fortunately, we were still able to enjoy the beautiful blooms of more than one million tulips throughout the various parks and flower beds in Ottawa.
R.T.
Commissioners Park
Ottawa
A day after the 2017 Tulip Festival
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