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Justin Trudeau is flying to Bermuda Wednesday to deliver a personal eulogy at the funeral of close family friend Peter Green. A statement from the office of the prime minister notes that he will travel from and return to Ottawa on the same day, adding that the event is closed to media.
According to an obituary published Tuesday in Bermuda’s Royal Gazette, Green passed away at the age of 88, and is survived by sons Alexander and Andrew Green; daughter-in-law Ika Green; grandchildren Archer and Titania Green; and brothers Martin and Alan Green. In addition to a private family service, a celebration of life will be held on Friday, Nov. 15 at the Hamilton Princess Hotel in Bermuda.
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Who is Peter Green, the businessman behind Trudeau’s luxury trip to Jamaica?
Green’s wife, Mary-Jean, died of breast cancer in 1990 at age 38. Their sons sponsored a scholarship dedicated to her on behalf of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in 2021. Peter Green had also previously donated to the Trudeau Foundation.
The Trudeaus and the Greens have a long history of friendship dating back to the 1970s. Pierre Trudeau spoke at Mary-Jean’s funeral. Alexander Green also gave a reading at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral in 2000.
The elder Trudeau “was godfather to one of their kids, their father was godfather to one of my brothers. This is 50 years of friendship,” Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons this year, responding to questions about a trip to Green’s Prospect Estate resort in Jamaica last year.
Prospect Estate and Villas is located near Ocho Rios in Jamaica. Mary-Jean’s father, Sir Harold Mitchell, who owned one of the largest fortunes at the time, bought the estate in the 1930s, according to CBC. She inherited it from her father, and in turn bequeathed it to Peter Green on her death.
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Trudeau, his children and ex-wife stayed at a secluded, 5,000-square-foot, six-bedroom “fortified residence” dating back to the 17th-century for nine days last Christmas. The total cost of their stay would equal roughly $84,000, the Post calculated. However, Trudeau’s office noted that the stay came “at no cost.”
A previous family trip to the Prospect Estate in 2022 cost taxpayers at least $162,000, according to documents tabled in the House of Commons. Most of the cost went to accommodating and paying for RCMP officers, who provide security.
The Greens and Pierre Trudeau have taken trips to Jamaica, Bermuda, Zermatt, Switzerland, and Canada, CBC has reported. The Trudeaus have hosted the Greens at 24 Sussex Drive, and the prime minister’s cottage in Harrington Lake, it added.
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