47 Facts About Adrienne Clarkson

Adrienne Louise Clarkson is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as the 26th governor general of Canada from 1999 to 2005.

On October 3,2005, Adrienne Clarkson was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

Adrienne Clarkson subsequently published her memoirs, founded the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and became Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

Adrienne Clarkson is a Chinese Canadian whose ancestry lies from the Taishanese and Hakka peoples in Guangdong, China.

Adrienne Clarkson describes one of her earliest memories as that of hiding in several Hong Kong basements during the Japanese invasion of the territory in 1941.

Adrienne Clarkson attended public school in the city and, in October 1951, was lined up with her class to see Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, as the royal motorcade passed through the city.

Adrienne Clarkson graduated from Lisgar Collegiate Institute in 1956, afterwards enrolling at the University of Toronto's Trinity College.

Adrienne Clarkson went on to obtain her master's degree in English literature, at the University of Toronto.

Adrienne Clarkson began post-graduate work in 1962, at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, with a thesis on the poems of George Meredith.

Adrienne Clarkson remained with Take 30 for a decade, while branching into print journalism by becoming a regular contributor to such publications as Maclean's and Chatelaine.

Similarly, Adrienne Clarkson wrote and published her own romantic fiction novels: A Lover More Condoling in 1968, and Hunger Trace in 1970.

Adrienne Clarkson was brought on to co-host with Warner Troyer for the first season, but, due to persistent problems between the two, Troyer left the series, leaving Adrienne Clarkson to host with Peter Reilly and Eric Malling thereafter.

Adrienne Clarkson focused on investigative journalism and gained prominence after an in-depth study of the McCain family's business practices led a Senator to publicly accuse her of being un-naturalised.

Adrienne Clarkson was the first visible minority and refugee to be appointed governor general, and the second woman, the first Chinese Canadian, and the first without a military or political background.

Adrienne Clarkson was the second person to have been appointed to the Order of Canada prior to nomination as governor general-designate, after Jules Leger.

Adrienne Clarkson brought with her a new approach to the governor generalcy, and dedicated much of her self-imposed mandate to drawing national attention to Northern Canada.

At the time of the announcement of her appointment, it was revealed that, with Adrienne Clarkson being accompanied to Rideau Hall by her longtime partner, John Ralston Saul, the official appointment would be bringing an unofficial pair to the viceregal post, in that the governor general would not be the only person actively exploring Canadian theory and culture.

On October 8,1999, Adrienne Clarkson was sworn in as the 26th Governor General of Canada, and was actively participating in her role, becoming immediately instrumental in the final stages of the repatriation of Canada's unknown soldier from France.

On her cabinet's advice, Adrienne Clarkson subsequently dispatched Canadian soldiers to assist in the invasion of Afghanistan, and, in her role of representing the Queen as commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces, visited in 2002 the Canadian troops serving in the Afghan theatre.

Adrienne Clarkson took a proactive role in increasing the stature of the Canadian viceregal office, travelling widely, hosting lavish state events, and hosting conferences and forums.

All together, this resulted in some politicians calling for the role of the governor general to be reduced or even for the position to be eliminated, and a poll taken late in 2003 found a majority of respondents thought Adrienne Clarkson was "too grand" for the office.

Still, though the Office of the Governor General defended the tour as successful, particularly with regard to the warm reception Adrienne Clarkson received in Russia and during her meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and it was the Department of Foreign Affairs that commissioned and paid for the trip with funds approved by parliament.

Adrienne Clarkson waited until less than two weeks after the end of her time serving as governor general before she publicly criticised Jean Chretien and the Cabinet under his chairmanship for not defending the viceregal office, and reaffirmed that she had been asked by the Department of Foreign Affairs to take each of her state trips in the first place.

In June 2004, the Governor General and her office were targeted by Canadian monarchists, who noted that, prior to the ceremony to recognize Canada's involvement at Juno Beach in the D-Day landings of 1944, Government House claimed that Adrienne Clarkson would be attending as Canada's head of state and, at the event, the Queen, who attended the ceremony, was relegated to third place in precedence behind Adrienne Clarkson and Saul.

Adrienne Clarkson was on a goodwill tour of a poor area of the city; however, the protesters argued that her visit was nothing more than a publicity stunt to try to gain some of her lost popular support to get her time in office extended.

However, the inauguration was postponed, and it was felt that Adrienne Clarkson could have returned to Canada for the service.

When it was later reported by the Toronto Sun and The Globe and Mail that Adrienne Clarkson would wait in Paris, France, for the rescheduled presidential investiture, more outrage was expressed in the press, which was only compounded when Rideau Hall informed the public that the Governor General would attend a "long-standing engagement" with the Queen at Sandringham House, contradicting reports that Buckingham Palace had said the dinner was actually booked at the last minute.

Regardless of the controversies, Adrienne Clarkson was asked, and agreed, to remain in the Queen's service for an additional year beyond the traditional, but not official, five-year period.

Adrienne Clarkson recovered quickly, and returned to her viceregal duties in the same month.

Also, on July 23,2005, Adrienne Clarkson was inducted as an honorary member of the Kainai Chieftainship, during a traditional ceremony held at Red Crow Park, near Standoff, Alberta, after which she was adopted into the Blood Tribe with the name Grandmother of Many Nations; this made Adrienne Clarkson the first governor general since Edward Schreyer in 1984 to be made an honorary chief, and only the third woman to be inducted since the creation of the chieftainship.

Similarly, on the morning of September 26,2005, Adrienne Clarkson attended a celebration on Parliament Hill in which Member of Parliament thanked her for her work and presented her with the viceregal flag that flew atop the Peace Tower when Adrienne Clarkson was present in parliament.

However, Adrienne Clarkson caused yet another controversy when she decided, with Jean's consent, to attend Jean's investiture, marking the first time in more than a century that a governor general had attended the swearing-in of his or her successor.

Adrienne Clarkson took the place of the monarch in presenting to the next vicereine the Chancellor's insignia of the Order of Canada, thereby breaking the order's "first and oldest tradition"; a move Canada's expert on honours, Christopher McCreery, called "a rather bizarre turn of events".

The Monarchist League of Canada even reported that a member of parliament had telephoned to ask if they had ever before heard of the eruption of booing at the mention of the governor general's name, as had apparently happened in the MP's riding when Adrienne Clarkson was spoken about.

Adrienne Clarkson signed a deal with Penguin Canada to publish her memoirs in two books.

Into 2009, Adrienne Clarkson continued to promote this notion, stating at a constitutional law conference that the governor general embodied the nation and the prime minister's nominee for the viceregal role should thus be vetted by a parliamentary committee, in a similar format to Congressional Confirmation Hearings in the United States.

Adrienne Clarkson then went further to say that the candidate should submit to a televised quiz on Canadiana.

On February 7,2007, Adrienne Clarkson was appointed by the Queen as Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, replacing the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and commented that she was "deeply honoured" and proud to accept the role.

Adrienne Clarkson is vice-chair of the board of directors of the dance company La La La Human Steps and, in 2014, was announced as the presenter of that year's Massey Lectures.

Since the 1980s, Adrienne Clarkson has been in a relationship with Canadian writer and philosopher John Ralston Saul.

In 1963, Adrienne Clarkson married Stephen Adrienne Clarkson, a University of Toronto political science professor.

Adrienne Clarkson's daughters have been estranged from her and were adopted by Christine McCall, Stephen Clarkson's second wife.

Adrienne Clarkson chose to attend Trinity College at the University of Toronto because of its Anglican associations, and, while there, she casually dated divinity student Michael Peers, who would later become an archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Adrienne Clarkson is credited for returning prayer to the viceregal installation ceremony, which had been removed when Romeo LeBlanc was installed in 1995.

Adrienne Clarkson was admired by the faithful for being open about her religious beliefs during her time in Rideau Hall.

Adrienne Clarkson was noted for visiting Anglican churches around Canada on her many tours, saying that she enjoyed seeing how the church fit in communities in all parts of Canada.

The trilliums represent both Adrienne Clarkson's home province of Ontario, as well as the meaning of her Chinese first name, which is a metaphor for "ice flowering branch", while tigers are Adrienne Clarkson's favourite animals, and represent the year in which she was born.