Bloom 2 – Red Tulip

Personally, I loved tulips before moving to Ottawa, but Ottawa’s love affair with tulips has deep roots in World War II and is celebrated every year at the Canadian Tulip Festival.

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Princess Juliana fled to Ottawa with her daughters, Princess Beatrix and Princess Irene. While in Ottawa, Princess Juliana gave birth to her third daughter, Princess Margriet.

In an extraordinary act of diplomacy, a section of the Ottawa Civic Hospital was briefly designated as Dutch territory so that Princess Margriet could be born with Dutch citizenship.

Since 1945, the Dutch Crown has gifted tulip bulbs to Canada annually, and the festival originated in 1953.

EXIF / Equipment