{"id":255045,"date":"2025-12-28T03:25:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/255045\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T03:25:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:25:15","slug":"last-of-canadas-dionne-quintuplets-dies-aged-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/255045\/","title":{"rendered":"Last of Canada&#8217;s Dionne quintuplets dies aged 91"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765806968_986_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/19d6e3b0-e369-11f0-85b6-bde3d5216889.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Toronto Star via Getty Images close-up of the faces of three women, the woman in the middle is wearing glasses and the three all have short grey hair\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Toronto Star via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Annette, Yvonne and and C\u00e9cile Dionne pictured in 1998<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Annette Dionne, the last surviving sister of the Canadian quintuplets, has died at 91, the Dionne Quints Home Museum has announced. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The five identical sisters, born in Ontario at the height of the Great Depression in 1934, were the first known quintuplets to survive past infancy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">They quickly became a global sensation during their childhood &#8211; starring in feature films, appearing on the covers of magazines, and endorsing products from toothpaste to syrup. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Much beloved, Annette had championed children&#8217;s rights,&#8221; the museum said in a statement announcing her death. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765806968_986_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9550ea10-e367-11f0-85b6-bde3d5216889.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images five girls in matching dresses licking ice cream cones in this black and white photo from 1938\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Dionne quintuplets on their fourth birthday in 1938<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The museum, which seeks to preserve their legacy and educate the public on the quintuplets&#8217; controversial upbringing, added: &#8220;She believed it was important to maintain the Dionne Quints Museum and the history it provides for the future of all children.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The quintuplets &#8211; Annette, Yvonne, C\u00e9cile, \u00c9milie, and Marie &#8211; were taken away from their parents by the Ontario government when they were infants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">For several years, the authorities displayed the children in a compound dubbed &#8220;Quintland&#8221;, which became a popular tourist attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The children were constantly examined and observed, and had limited contact with their parents and siblings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Their parents later regained custody of the quintuplets. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765806968_986_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9e015730-e367-11f0-85b6-bde3d5216889.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images five toddlers in matching dresses sitting on the floor in a line front of their own cakes\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The quintuplets on their second birthday<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">As adults Annette, C\u00e9cile, and Yvonne sued the Ontario government for compensation over the circumstances of their childhood, and they received a settlement totalling nearly C$3m in 1998. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Annette was the last surviving sibling out of the 14 Dionne children, the Dionne Quints Home Museum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Prior to Annette and C\u00e9cile&#8217;s deaths this year, \u00c9milie died in 1954, Marie died in 1970 and Yvonne died in 2001. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765806968_986_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a83ea5e0-e367-11f0-85b6-bde3d5216889.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images the five sisters, wearing suits, lined up in front of microphones on a table, and smiling\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The Dionne sisters at their first formal American press conference in 1952<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Star via Getty Images Annette, Yvonne and and C\u00e9cile Dionne pictured in 1998 Annette Dionne, the last&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-255045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115795062793407627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}