Royal history is made in Ottawa on Jan. 19, 1943, when Dutch Princess Juliana gives birth to her daughter Margriet Francisca at the city's Civic Hospital. The first royal baby to ever be born in North America, the historic birth helped forge a bond between Canada and the Netherlands that endures to this day. This CBC Television clip looks back at the momentous delivery that captured the attention of war weary Canadians.
Crown Princess Juliana and her two small daughters arrived in Canada in June 1940, a month after they fled the Netherlands in the wake of the German army invasion. The heir to the Dutch throne, Juliana lived in exile in Ottawa for four years and became a fixture in the capital city's social circles. After learning of Juliana's pregnancy, the Canadian government proclaimed the hospital's maternity suite "extraterritorial" so that the royal baby would have full Dutch citizenship.