Laurier House National Historic Site of Canada

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Lady Laurier's Will

Portrait of Widow Laurier (artist unknown), 1906
© National Archives of Canada / c-118362

When Zoé Laurier died in 1921, it was discovered that she had bequeathed her Ottawa home to William Lyon Mackenzie King, her husband's successor as leader of the Liberal party. Her stated reason for the bequest was that "this house having been given us [Sir Wilfrid and herself] by political friends of my husband, I am of the opinion that it should return to the Liberal party, represented by its Chief ... Mackenzie King for the purpose of being his official residence." She also left King a number of "historical gifts which were given to my regretted husband sir [sic] Wilfrid Laurier, in the course of his trips in England and which are now to be found in the ... House...."

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