Extraterritoriality of Princess Margriet's birth
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The extraterritoriality of Princess Margriet's birth was a Canadian legislative manoeuvre which created a temporary extraterritorial space into which Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born in 1943. Devised by John Erskine Read and enacted through a statutory instrument under the War Measures Act, this ensured that Margriet was not born on foreign soil, which would have made her ineligible for the royal succession under the Constitution of the Netherlands.
The enactment was unusual as it did not specify a particular date or location but amounted to a roaming bubble of extraterritoriality that would temporarily form at the time and place of the birth. Margriet's birth is considered the most significant event of the Dutch royal family's exile during the German occupation of the Netherlands, and has been cited as the turning point for the wartime morale of the Dutch people. Canada's role in hosting Princess Juliana's family and in the military liberation of the Netherlands formed the basis for strong and lasting Canada–Netherlands relations.
In 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands and the Dutch royal family went into exile, with Crown Princess Juliana taking refuge in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. In September 1942 it was announced that Juliana was pregnant with her third child,[1] which raised a problem for the succession.[a] The Dutch constitution was clear that no person born on foreign soil could be in the royal succession.[2]: 124 [b]
In November, Juliana's secretary,[4] William van Tets,[5] contacted Canada's Department of External Affairs regarding the problem of having a Dutch royal heir born a British subject.[c] The department's legal advisor John Erskine Read devised a manner of avoiding this circumstance by enacting a temporary extraterritorial space for the birth of the heir.[4]
A legal team[2]: 124 led by Deputy Minister of Justice Frederick P. Varcoe wrote the legislation in the form of a proclamation[6] which was approved by cabinet.[4] An order-in-council was then issued through Governor General Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone,[d] to enact the legislation by statutory instrument.[6][e]
Proclamation
The proclamation was issued in the name of George VI on 27 November 1942[4][6] and published in the Canada Gazette on 26 December.[8]
The proclamation invoked the War Measures Act, stating that it was necessary for Canada's war effort to grant refuge to allied royal families and, in the case of the royal family of the Netherlands, "to provide extra-territorial character" for the birth of a potential heir.[6] This statutory authority granted the proclamation the legislative equivalency of an act of parliament.[f]
The proclamation declared:
That any place in Canada within which Her Royal Highness the Princess Juliana of the Netherlands may be confined shall, for the period of the lying-in and to the extent of actual occupation for such purpose, be extra-territorial, and for such purpose Her Royal Highness the Princess Juliana and any child that shall be born shall be accorded immunity from criminal, civil and military jurisdiction, whether Dominion or Provincial.[6]
