Dutch princess baptizes new tulip in honor of 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage

Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, wife of Willem-Alexander, Crown Prince of Orange, baptized Holland’s newest tulip last week at a ceremony in Manhattan’s Battery Park.

 

On the site of the fort that once guarded the young colony of New Amsterdam, the Dutch royal couple joined a crowd of New York dignitaries for the official naming ceremony for Tulipa ‘Henry Hudson’ (http://www.gardennewsbreak.com/releases/henry_hudson/index.html ) named in honor of the 400th anniversary of explorer Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manhattan Island and the river that bears his name, which led to the founding of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.

 

The ceremony was part of NY400, a joint Dutch-American celebration of the shared history of New York City and the City of Amsterdam. The royal couple also presented the City of New York with a gift of 120,000 flower bulbs to be planted in the city’s five boroughs, Battery Park and the Hudson River Park this fall.