
Queen of United Kingdom (as well as Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth realms) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today, May 19th 2014, is Victoria Day in Canada. This is a public holiday for most of us.
While many consider Victoria Day to be the ‘unofficial’ start of summer, it is actually to celebrate the first Monarch of the Dominion of Canada, Queen Victoria whose birthday was May 24th. It is also the official Canadian birthday of our current Monarch Queen Elizabeth II (whose actually birthday is in April.)
Queen Victoria was born on May 24th, 1819 and would come to the throne of the United Kingdom on June 20th, 1837 when she ascended the throne on the death of her uncle King William IV. At the time Canada was still made up of several British colonies, so she was reigning over parts of Canada in her capacity of Queen of the United Kingdom. Continue reading →