Prime Minister Stephen Harper had an audience with Queen Elizabeth II while the two were at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit here in Perth, Australia. Here's a note from the PMO about the gift:
The painting (left) is “Canadian Foresters in Windsor Park” by Gerald Edward Moira.
On July 2nd 2011, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge toured the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
During the tour, this painting caught the Duke’s eye and he paused to note the silhouette of Windsor Castle. The painting depicts the 224th Canadian Forestry Battalion working below Windsor Castle. The fluttering flag on the roof indicates that His Majesty King George V is in residence.
In 1922 Moira's biographer described the painting as “a record of loyal labour, an epic strength, with all of which it unites the qualities of highest art and powerful decoration.”
Today, Canadian Foresters in Windsor Park is part of Canada’s First World War collection of nearly 1,000 paintings.
Background on the Canadian Forestry Battalion: On the 19th February 1916, the Secretary of State for the Colonies cabled to the Governor General of Canada to the effect that His Majesty's Government would be grateful if the Canadian Government would assist in the production of timber for war purposes, and asked if a Battalion of Lumbermen could be raised and sent overseas to exploit the forest of Great Britain.
The immediate formation of the 224th Canadian Forestry Battalion resulted, and within three months the Battalion was mobilized shipped overseas.
On the 21st November, 1916, the Forestry Units were banded together to form “The Canadian Forestry Corps,” which at the cessation of hostilities had grown to a strength of practically 30,000 all ranks.
The operations in Great Britain are divided into five Districts – three in England and two in Scotland. Each District has its own Headquarters to which each of its Companies reports and altogether there where 41 Companies operating, including 3 at work for the Royal Air Force on the construction of aerodromes.