The Netherlands send flowers to Canada because the royal Dutch family fled to Canada during World War II, and Princes Juliana was pregnant at the time with soon-to-be Princess Margriet.

The thing is, if Margriet wasn’t born on Dutch soil, she couldn’t be considered Dutch royalty, so, the Canadian government literally declared the Ottawa Hospital to extraterritorially be considered Dutch land.

When World War II was over and the family returned to the Netherlands, Princess Juliana was forever grateful for Canada’s hospitality, sending 100,000 tulips to them to thank them—a tradition that is still carried out.