Canadian Governor General meets two kings and a princess in busy visit

The Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, has had a busy week that included meeting with two different monarchs. 

Mary Simon was in London for a meeting with The King which comes less than a month before Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to travel to Ottawa for a two day visit where His Majesty will read the Throne Speech.  

King Charles welcomed Governor General Simon for a private audience at Buckingham Palace. 

Earlier, Mary Simon visited the Netherlands on behalf of Canadians for events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Europe. She held a meeting with King Willem-Alexander and shared ”This meeting is a powerful reaffirmation of the deep and lasting friendship between our two nations, built over decades of shared history and mutual respect.”

It came after Mary Simon met Princess Margriet in Apeldoorn. The princess was born in Ottawa in 1943 while her mother, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and family were in exile in Canada during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Despite being born in Ottawa, the Canadian government temporarily declared the maternity ward of the hospital extraterrestrial so that she could be a Dutch citizen. 

Princess Margriet has visited Canada many times. 

In the Second World War, Canadian and British troops played a major role in the liberation of the Netherlands.