Today’s evening, this Saturday June 4, 2005, the city of Cetinje, in the heart of traditional Montenegro, hosted the first gala ceremony of the Order of Danilo I in the country since 90 years. This prestigious event in the old Royal Capital — placed under the High Patronage of the President of Montenegro, H.E. Mr. Filip Vujanović, and his wife Svetlana — started by an investiture ceremony in the historic setting of the Blue Saloon of the King’s Palace, the former official reception room of King Nikola I.

Upon proposition of the Grand Chancellery of the Royal House Orders of Montenegro, the highly symbolic ceremony was the occasion for Hereditary Grand Master H.R.H. Crown Prince Nicolas to invest two proeminent Canadian businessmen, Messrs. Nicholas Bosanquet and Dan Hill, with the insignia of Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Danilo I.

Remembering his 1991 private visit to Toronto, accompanied by his wife H.R.H. Princess France, and praising the sincerity, the warmth and the spontaneity of the welcome the Montenegrin Diaspora in Canada afforded them, the Hereditary Grand Master expressed his great pleasure that two representatives of the Canadian business community be received in the Order of Danilo I.
Ambitioning that the Order can soon honour not only services rendered to the Royal House, but especially to entire Montenegro and its people, Crown Prince Nicolas wished to enlighten through this investiture the development of Canada-Montenegro relations, in the context of last month visit in the country of billionaire Mr. Peter Munk — one of Canada’s most successful businessmen and industrialists, whose London representative is Mr. Bosanquet, by another way the own brother of Mr. Munk’s wife, Mélanie.
The Crown Prince expressed his hope that the discussions Mr. Munk have had with the Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Milo Đukanović, on marine tourism investments will bring to successful joint projects in this field, also hoping co-development programs will be approached in a spirit of “responsible tourism” — a cause to which Crown Prince Nicolas always proclaimed a fervent attachment, at the same time respectful of the natural beauty of Montenegro’s coastline and source of better welfare for every Montenegrin.