Tulips

Returning to the Tulip Festival series today, we have more of the flowers.

I mentioned a pavilion that had been set up in the park (and should have worded things differently, as some of you were expecting more on that classic car. Oops). The pavilion included a panel on the Dutch royals and time spent in Canada during the Second World War.

It also included panels on The Scheldt, a battle in 1944 that was part of the liberation of the Netherlands. This year and next year mark the 75th anniversary of liberation. This battle, involving Canadian troops alongside British and Polish soldiers, was a ferocious campaign.

I returned to the path, and continued photographing tulips.

Here we have more of the historical panels. When Princess Margriet was born, her father and grandmother crossed the Atlantic to attend the baptism. The ceremony was held at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church downtown, attended by the great and the good, and broadcast on Radio Orange to the people in the occupied Netherlands. The photographs on this panel were taken by Yousuf Karsh at the time.

The ultimate liberation of the Netherlands established a warm friendship between the liberated and the liberators that thrives to this day.

Princess Margriet has often come back to Canada throughout her life, making a point of meeting with veterans in particular.