Princess Anne speaks during a commissioning ceremony aboard HMCS Max Bernays as part of Fleet Week, in North Vancouver, B.C., on May 3.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Princess Anne will be in Newfoundland and Labrador next month to mark the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the National War Memorial in St. John’s.
The July 1 anniversary will be particularly poignant, as the remains of an unidentified First World War soldier from what was then known as the Dominion of Newfoundland, will be entombed on the plateau of the memorial.
More than 12,000 people from the dominion served in various branches during the First World War; about 1,700 of them were killed, and more than 800 have no known grave.
The remains of the Unknown Soldier were returned from France last month and they will be laid to rest at a refurbished memorial site representing deceased Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from all branches of service who have no known grave.
Princess Anne, the sister of King Charles, is the colonel in chief of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Her July 1 visit also coincides with the province’s 75th anniversary of joining Canada.