International Zone - Ottawa Civic Hospital, Canada

Ottawa Civic Hospital, Canada

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born in Ottawa, Canada, as the family had been living in there since June 1940 after the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. Making the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction and technically international territory. This was done to ensure that the newborn Princess would derive her citizenship from her mother only, thus making her solely Dutch.

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