Saturday, May 21, 2011

Window on Canada: Victoria Day Long Weekend


Canadians are celebrating yet another long weekend with Victoria Day on May 23, 2011. The holiday falls on the weekend before Memorial Day, and for many Canadians marks the beginning of summer -- although here in the Pacific Northwest, it's turning out to be yet another chilly, rainy weekend after a glorious Friday.

I recently saw the movie The Young Victoria during a flight from Seattle to Singapore. Emily Blunt is outstanding in the role of Queen Victoria; if you haven't seen it, add it to your Netflix queue. Here's some interesting trivia about the film:
Producer Sarah Ferguson's daughter, Princess Beatrice of York, has a small role in the film as one of Victoria's ladies in waiting. Beatrice is a great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Princess Beatrice, one of two daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, received a lot of earned attention for the unusually goofy hat that she wore to the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29, 2011.

Happy Victoria Day, O Canada!

Queen Victoria reigns eternally from the front lawn of the BC Parliament Buildings in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Photo by Sue Frause.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also known as the "MAY two four weekend" here, (reference to the 24--colloquial name for a case of beer.) Not too many monarchists left in Canada or even in Victoria BC. Things have slipped as we have grown as a country.

Eat Play Sleep said...

Didn't know that the "two four" referred to 24 beers in a case. That's great! Yes, it's just another three-day holiday I'm sure, like many of our historical holidays. Thanks for the info!

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