Victoria Day, held each year on the last Monday proceeding May 24, is a long weekend in Canada and the start of the summer season across the country.
The day is held in honour of British monarch Queen Victoria.
This queen had deep ties with Canada, and her father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767 to 1820) had a role in the eventual formation of Canada as a country. The province of Prince Edward Island is named after him.
For many Canadians, Victoria Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, with many people opening their summer cabins. It is a popular holiday as it is the first holiday to take place in the warmer summer months.
Did You Know?
• Victoria Day is a Canadian tradition and doesn’t actually exist in most of England. But it is celebrated in parts of Scotland, especially Edinburgh, where it remains an official holiday.
• When Victoria was just a little girl, she was known by her nickname, Drina.
• Despite being born in England, Victoria only spoke German up until the age of three.
• She married Prince Albert in 1840, although they’d known each other since she was 16; and it really was a family affair. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was her first cousin, and his father was her mother’s brother!
• Because she was Queen, she had to propose to Albert, and not vice versa.
• She took over the throne in 1837, after the death of William IV. She was just 18 years old.
• Despite the somewhat imposing figure she’s been portrayed as in history, the real Victoria didn’t completely measure up. She stood just five feet tall.
• She was the subject of at least six serious assassination attempts.
• When you see pictures or actresses playing Victoria, she’s almost always wearing black. That’s because when her husband died in December 1861, she went into seclusion and a perpetual state of mourning and never wore any other colour.
• She became a grandma at 39 and a great grandmother twenty years later.
• The mother of nine suffered one of the major drawbacks of such a long life, tragically outliving three of her own children.
Click here to the Evergreen Community News home page for the latest Evergreen community updates.
