HRH Prince Philip, 99, has passed away.
Tag: Queen
Former Astronaut To Be Canada’s Next Governor General
Julie Payette will be Canada’s next Governor-General, replacing David Johnston. She will start her new job on October 2.
Payette, 53, is a former astronaut, who spent more than 25 days in space.
She speaks six languages.
Barbados To Get A New Head Of State
Barbados has announced that Queen Elizabeth II will no longer be the country’s head of state. Instead, a “ceremonial president” will replace her.
Future King Of England, Baby Prince George, Christened
The tiny heir to Britain’s throne had a big milestone event this week.
Prince George had his christening.
In this case, a christening is a religious Christian ceremony during which a baby is baptized with holy water.
The water used in the ceremony was from the River Jordan. The river has significance to Christians because it is where Jesus was baptized, according to the Bible.
The three-month-old son of Prince William and Kate Middleton is third in line to the British throne. In other words, he could one day be the King of England.
The ceremony took place in St. James’s Palace in England.
There were only 22 people at the christening, but they included some pretty big names.
The Queen was there, as well as the three other people who are next in line to claim her throne.
“I Am Malala” – A New Memoir By Malala Yousafzai
It was a year ago this week that the world came to know young Malala Yousafzai.
The girl, who is now 16, was riding a bus on her way home from school in Pakistan.
Two men, who were members of a terrorist organization in Pakistan, came on the bus and attacked Malala. The group known as the Taliban, doesn’t agree with girls getting an education.
Malala had been writing online about the importance of girls going to school and about her own love of learning.
The Taliban wanted to stop Malala—but their actions created a world-wide outpouring of affection for the brave girl, who has since nearly fully recovered from her ordeal.
Malala was taken to a hospital in England, where she had a life-saving operation. She now lives and goes to school in England.
The Netherlands Gets Its First King In 123 Years
On Tuesday, the people of the Netherlands got a new king.
That’s because their queen, Queen Beatrix, abdicated the throne.
Abdicated means she stepped down—stopped being queen—to let her son take over the throne and become king.
Her eldest son is Willem-Alexander; he was Crown Prince and now is King.
Canada and the Netherlands have a connection.
During World War II, Beatrix’s family lived in Ottawa, Ont., Canada’s capital city, for five years.
Beatrix’s younger sister, Margriet, was born in Ottawa Civic Hospital in 1943.
At that time, a “federal proclamation” was made to declare the maternity (birthing) ward of the hospital “extraterritorial.” In other words, the room in which Margriet was born was declared neutral ground. That’s so the new royal baby would obtain Dutch citizenship through her parents, rather than Dutch plus Canadian (dual) citizenship because she was born in Canada.
The Dutch royal family thanked Canada for allowing them to live in Ottawa during the war by giving Canada 100,000 tulip bulbs. They continue to send the bulbs each year to Canada. The tulip bulbs form the basis for Ottawa’s stunning annual tulip festival.
Scotland May Hold Independence Referendum
For the first time in three centuries, the united part of the United Kingdom may be in trouble.
The Scottish National Party (SNP), the party that runs Scotland day-to-day, is urging the Scottish people to support independence from Britain. However it still wants to keep the Queen as official leader.
Last week, British Prime Minister Gordon Cameron went to Scotland to argue that Scotland should not separate from Great Britain.
Scotland and England have been together since 1707 when the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed under the rule of the British. Ireland and Wales were already under British rule at that time.
