The tulips hadn’t bloomed in Ottawa so while grocery shopping I bought a bouquet 4 myself. In honour of our Canadian Tulip Festival I shot these & saved the photos until after the festival started. I’ve never had cut tulips B4. Boy R they thirsty flowers. I put them in a large vase of water when I got home in the evening & the next morning it was almost empty!
The Dutch Royal Family evacuated 2 Canada 4 safety during WWII. Princess Margriet of Netherlands is the only person of Royal descent 2 have been born in Canada. So she could become a citizen of her own country William Lyon McKenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada at the time declared the maternity ward in the Civic Hospital extraterrestrial or dutch soil.
Canadian troops fought in Europe & Netherlands during WWII & they helped achieve liberation of them both. Since the end of the war the Dutch Royal Family has sent tulips every year for 76 years in friendship & gratitude.
Canada on the suggestion of Malak Karsh, world renowned photographer created the tulip festival. It acknowledges soldiers who fought in WWII. It commemorates Princess Margriet’s birth, the friendship of our 2 countries & showcases the royal gift of tulips. Upon their return to the Netherlands they sent 100,000 tulips & every year since then the royal family sends 20,000 tulip bulbs in gratitude. Today the Canadian tulip festival is the largest of its kind with over a million tulips blooming in our nations capital yearly. Tourists flock here to see the tulips every spring. Captured April 30, posted May 20, 2022.