The rare opportunity for Calgary author Fred van Zuiden to meet Princess Margriet of the Netherlands comes more than six decades after he stood in a war-ravaged Dutch village and spoke to her father, the late Prince Bernhard.
He’s hoping for a second brush with royalty and the chance to offer the princess a copy of his book, Call Me Mom, which details his life as a young Jewish boy on the run from the Nazis in German-occupied Holland.
“I survived Gestapo raids where everybody else was caught and never returned,” said van Zuiden.
There are 40,000 people of Dutch heritage in Calgary. Many expatriates, like van Zuiden, are excited to welcome Princess Margriet and her husband, Pieter van Vollenhoven, to the city to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands.
The royal couple’s three-day visit kicked off Thursday at the Fairmont Palliser hotel, where they were white-hatted by Mayor Dave Bronconnier. The princess appeared pleased to receive the ceremonial cowboy hat, although the couple declined to wear the Smithbilts. In the wake of the Libyan plane crash on Wednesday that killed 103 people, including about 70 Dutch nationals, they did not want to appear “festive.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you very much,” Princess Margriet said to the mayor.
The princess will lay a wreath at Central Memorial Park this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The ceremony will include surviving members of the Calgary Highlanders, who found themselves pitted against elite German paratroopers on Oct. 31, 1944, in the decisive Battle of Walcheren.
The battle took its toll on the 500-strong Canadian contingent. Sixty-four soldiers were injured or killed in the battle, which gave the Allies control of an important shipping route into Belgium.
Irene Bakker, honorary consul for the Netherlands, said the connection between the two countries is strong. In the 65 years since their country was freed, the people of the Netherlands have never forgotten the Canadian soldiers who marched into their cities, she said.
“We are thankful for the liberation of the Netherlands, and the Calgary Highlanders played a very important role in that,” Bakker said.
Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa in 1943 after her family fled the Netherlands during the war. Her hospital room was declared Dutch territory so she could be born a Dutch citizen.
The royal couple will participate in a cycling event at Eau Claire Plaza and attend a Red Cross dinner at Spruce Meadows during their stay.
With files from Deborah Tetley,
Calgary Herald
tgignac@theherald.canwest.com
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