Victoria Day
>Victoria Day is celebrated in Canada on the Monday prior to May 25th
>each year.
>It will be celebrated on Monday, May 21, 2001
>
>More information at these web sites:
http://home.uchicago.edu/~reziemba/victoria.html
http://www.pch.gc.ca/ceremonial-symb/english/day_vic.html
>
>
>
> The Sovereign's birthday has been celebrated in Canada since the
>reign of Queen Victoria(1837-1901). May 24, Queen Victoria's
>birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province
>of Canada in 1845.
>
> After Confederation, the Queen's birthday was celebrated every
>year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a
>proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.
>After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, an Act was passed by the
>Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 in each
>year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria
>Day.
>
> The birthday of King Edward VII, who was born on November 9, was
>by yearly proclamation during his reign (1901-1910) celebrated on
>Victoria Day. It was not an innovation to celebrate the birthday of
>the reigning sovereign on the anniversary of the birth of a
>predecessor.
>
> In Great Britain, the birthdays of George IV (1820-1830) and
>William IV(1830-1837) were celebrated on June 4, birthday of George
>III (1760-1820). The birthday of King George V, who reigned from
>1910 to 1935, was celebrated on the actual date, June 3 or, when that
>was a Sunday, by proclamation on June 4. The one birthday of King
>Edward VIII, who reigned in 1936, was also celebrated on the actual
>date, June 23. King George VI's birthday, which fell on December 14,
>was officially celebrated in the United Kingdom on a Thursday early
>in June.
>
> Up to 1947 Canada proclaimed the same day but in 1948 and
>further years settled on the Monday of the week in which the United
>Kingdom celebration took place. George VI reigned from 1936 to1952.
>The first birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952, was also
>celebrated in June. Meanwhile, Canada continued to observe Victoria
>Day.
>
> An amendment to the Statutes of Canada in 1952 established the
>celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25. From
>1953 to 1956, the Queen's birthday was celebrated in Canada on
>Victoria Day, by proclamation of the Governor General, with Her
>Majesty's approval. In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed
>as the Queen's birthday in Canada.
>
> In the United Kingdom, the Queen's birthday is celebrated in
>June.
>
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/resource/Canada/Victoria.htm