The
Making of a Holiday - Victoria Day
On
May 24th,1819 Queen Victoria was born. Every May
24th in Canada we celebrate her birth. In the 1900's
the Canadians celebrated it as Empire Day. The name
changed to Commonwealth Day, in 1947. May 24, Queen
Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the
Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845.
After
Confederation, the Queen's birthday was celebrated
every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in
which case a proclamation was issued providing for the
celebration on May 25.
After
the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, an Act was passed
by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal
holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24
fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day.
The
birthday of King Edward VII, who was born on November
9, was by yearly proclamation during his reign
(1901-1910) celebrated on Victoria Day.
It
was not an innovation to celebrate the birthday of the
reigning sovereign on the anniversary of the birth of
a predecessor. In Great Britain, the birthdays of
George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837) were
celebrated on June 4, birthday of George III
(1760-1820).
The
birthday of King George V, who reigned from 1910 to
1935, was celebrated on the actual date, June 3 or,
when that was a Sunday, by proclamation on June 4.
The
one birthday of King Edward VIII, who reigned in 1936,
was also celebrated on the actual date, June 23.
King
George VI's birthday, which fell on December 14, was
officially celebrated in the United Kingdom on a
Thursday early in June. Up to 1947 Canada proclaimed
the same day but in 1948 and further years settled on
the Monday of the week in which the United Kingdom
celebration took place. George VI reigned from 1936 to
1952.
The
first birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952, was
also celebrated in June.
Meanwhile,
Canada continued to observe Victoria Day. An amendment
to the Statutes of Canada in 1952 established the
celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding
May 25.
From
1953 to 1956, the Queen's birthday was celebrated in
Canada on Victoria Day, by proclamation of the
Governor General, with Her Majesty's approval. In
1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed as the
Queen's birthday in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the
Queen's birthday is celebrated in June.
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