Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson has at least one more European tour on her agenda before her term ends this fall.

At the end of April, Clarkson will travel to Spain, meet with King Juan Carlos and take part in an academic conference.

Then it's off to the Netherlands to meet Queen Beatrix. They will commemorate Canada's role in liberating Holland at the end of the Second World War.

More than 1,000 Canadian veterans of the campaign are expected to take part in the 60th anniversary celebrations.

An advance team of 15 travelled to the Netherlands to organize the trip. Of that number, four are working on the itinerary of two people: Clarkson and her husband John Ralston Saul.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew defended the expense.

"My view is that Canada, when we visit countries like Spain or the Netherlands that are monarchies as well, you have to do things appropriately," he told CTV News.

He said Clarkson's advance team is relatively modest: "You should see when (U.S. President) George Bush comes. There are thousands for advance."

Rideau Hall is not revealing the cost of the European trip.

The Governor-General's travel expenses have been fodder for critics ever since she went on a $5-million circumpolar tour of northern countries in the fall of 2003.

After that trip, a Parliamentary committee cut $400,000 out of the Governor-General's 2004-05 budget in December to send "a message," as opposition MPs put it.

Word of this latest excursion had Stockwell Day, the Conservative Party's foreign affairs critic, demanding answers.

"She should explain where she's going and why she going and be very open about the expenses. To do anything less just casts the whole thing in a cloud of doubt and shadow."

Clarkson will spend five days with the Canadian vets in the Netherlands. But she will depart for Canada before VE Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8. Prime Minister Paul Martin will be in the Netherlands on that day.

"Well, it is bizarre because if she was going over for the V.E. day itself, it would be understandable," said John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation.

"But to go over for the run-up to the anniversary and then come back to Canada seems a bit odd."

Rideau Hall said Clarkson was returning early because she is scheduled to officially open the Canadian War Museum on May 8.

With a report from CTV's Rosemary Thompson