| Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria | |
| Date: | 2021 June 1887 |
| Genre: | Jubilee of British monarch |
| Prev: | Golden Jubilee of George III |
| Next: | Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria |
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which 50 European kings and princes were invited.[1]
As the fiftieth anniversary of Victoria's accession approached, public anticipation of national celebrations began to grow, encouraged by the Liberal politician, Lord Granville. At the previous royal jubilee, the Golden Jubilee of George III, the king had been ill at Windsor Castle, so there was little precedent to follow.[2] In 1872, the recovery of Edward, Prince of Wales from a bout of typhoid fever was marked by Victoria processing through London to a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral; despite the queen's reluctance, this had proved to be a resounding success which had silenced the many critics of the monarchy.[3] For the Golden Jubilee, Victoria had informed the Conservative prime minister, Lord Salisbury, that she intended to have a thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, and ignoring the Biblical tradition that the start of the fiftieth year should be celebrated, the jubilee should mark the completion of fifty years. The service should reference Victoria's coronation, although the queen would not wear a crown or robes of state. This entailed considerable alterations inside the Abbey, which Lord Salisbury reluctantly agreed to finance, but he insisted that the queen should underwrite the rest of the costs.[4]
On the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, Queen Victoria wrote a message of thanks to her people, which was then published in the London Gazette and national newspapers:[5]
The first official Golden Jubilee celebrations were in the Indian Empire, and began in February to avoid the summer heat. Events took place across India on Jubilee Day, 16 February, orchestrated by the Viceroy, Lord Lytton, although his attempts to link the event with the perceived success of the British administration were mostly ignored by local rulers.[6] A durbar in Bombay (now Mumbai) was attended by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. Additionally, Victoria had a contingent of cavalry from the British Indian Army brought to London to be her personal escort,[7] and engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters, one of whom was Abdul Karim. Invitations to the jubilee celebrations were extended to the rulers of the Indian Princely States, several of whom were willing to make the lengthy journey to London.[8]
On 20 June 1887, the Queen had breakfast outdoors under the trees at Frogmore, where Prince Albert had been buried. She wrote in her diary:[5]
She then travelled by train from Windsor station to Paddington then to Buckingham Palace for a lunch.[5] In the evening, there was a banquet, which fifty foreign kings and princes, along with the governing heads of Britain's overseas colonies and dominions, attended. She wrote in her diary:[9]
The next day, the Queen participated in a procession in an open landau, drawn by six cream-coloured horses, through London to Westminster Abbey escorted by Colonial Indian cavalry. She refused to wear a crown, wearing instead a bonnet and a long dress. The procession through London, according to Mark Twain, "stretched to the limit of sight in both directions". The spectators were accommodated on terraced benches along 10 miles of scaffolding erected for the purpose.[5]
At Westminster Abbey, there was a Service of Thanksgiving held for the Queen's reign.[5] The music included the singing of a Te Deum which had been composed by Prince Albert.[10] During the Service, a beam of sunlight fell upon her bowed head, which the future Queen Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi observing noted as a mark of divine favour.[11]
On her return to the Palace, she went to her balcony and was cheered by the crowd. In the ballroom she distributed brooches made for the Jubilee to her family.[5] In the evening, she put on a gown embroidered with silver roses, thistles and shamrocks and attended a banquet. Afterwards she received a procession of diplomats and Indian princes. She was then wheeled in her chair to sit and watch fireworks in the palace garden.[9]
The Queen reflected on the day in her diary:[5]
The next morning, Victoria went to St James's Palace to visit her elderly aunt, the dowager Duchess of Cambridge. In the afternoon, the Queen attended a party in Hyde Park for 26,000 schoolchildren, who were all given a glass of milk, a bun and a Jubilee mug. Returning to Windsor by train, the Queen then unveiled a bronze statue of herself in Castle Hill by Sir Edgar Boehm, before viewing a torchlight procession by the schoolboys of Eton College.[12]
On 9 July, Victoria and other members of the royal family attended a Jubilee Field State Review of the British Army at Aldershot.[13] The total number of troops participating was over 58,000; including 21,200 regular soldiers, 4,500 Militia, 270 Yeomanry and 33,000 Volunteers. The Queen, with an escort of the 10th Royal Hussars in which Prince Albert Victor was serving, received an address by the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, and then watched the entire force march past in review. Although the ground had been watered that morning by two traction engines, the passing of so many boots and hooves threw up great clouds of dust, to the annoyance of the huge crowd of spectators. Following lunch in a specially erected pavilion, the Queen returned to Windsor by train.[14]
On 23 July, Victoria and the royal family attended a Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead offshore from Portsmouth. Present were more than one hundred Royal Navy warships and dozens of other vessels. The British fleet included 26 ironclads, 14 cruisers, 31 gunboats and 38 torpedo boats; between them these ships carried 442 guns and were manned by 16,136 officers and ratings. Also present were several foreign warships, as well as troopships, large merchant ships, yachts and numerous small craft filled with spectators. The Queen and other important guests passed along the lines of anchored ships in a flotilla led by the royal yacht, . That night, the ships were illuminated by their searchlights. A report for the United States Navy described the review as "the most imposing ever seen afloat".[15]
At the Jubilee, the Queen engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters; Mohammed Buksh and Abdul Karim.
A commemorative bust of Victoria was commissioned from the sculptor Francis John Williamson.[16] [17] [18] Many copies were made, and distributed throughout the British Empire.
A special Golden Jubilee Medal was instituted and awarded to participants of the jubilee celebrations.[19]
Writer and geographer John Francon Williams published The Jubilee Atlas of the British Empire especially to commemorate Victoria's Jubilee and her Jubilee year.
Many British towns and cities commissioned new monuments, public clocks or buildings to mark the event, including Queen's Arcade in Leeds, the Jubilee Memorial, Harrogate, the Jubilee Clock Tower, Weymouth, the Jubilee Clock Tower, Brighton and the Clock Tower, Crewe.
Other descendants of the Queen's paternal grandfather, King George III and their families:
The King and Queen of the Belgians, the Queen's first cousin and his wife
The King of Denmark, father of the Princess of Wales
The Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway, nephew-in-law of the German Crown Prince (representing the King of Sweden and Norway)