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GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS
It
is interesting to remember in this Golden Jubilee year that three of the
longest reigning monarchs of England were women.
Elizabeth
l was five years short of her Golden
Jubilee when she died in 1603.
Queen
Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee (60
years) in 1897. She died in 1901 aged
82 years. She was the longest reigning
English monarch.
Queen
Elizabeth ll has reigned since 1952 and celebrates her Golden Jubilee this
year.
In
“Queen Victoria and her people” by C S Dawe there are details of the events
which marked the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
These show that not much in the way of Royal celebrations has changed
since then. They are listed as
Thanksgiving Services, feasts for the poor, treats for the young, illuminations
and bonfires throughout the length and breadth of the country”. There was also a series of exhibitions,
concerts, foundation stones laid and buildings opened by the Queen and a Grand
Procession from the Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Dawe writes that “Next to the Queen herself,
the greatest attraction was her body-guard of seventeen princes in military
uniform, superbly mounted and wearing their jewels and orders. They rode three abreast, the Queen’s three
sons coming last.”
The
Oliver Collection also contains a poster (too large to exhibit) of events in
Englefield Green to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in June 1887. On Jubilee Day the Church Lads’ Brigade Band
led a procession to the Green where a bonfire was lit to the singing of the
National Anthem. On 24th June there was
a “Dinner for the aged poor” in a tent on the Green, where everyone attending
was presented with a Jubilee Medal,
also a tea for the children.
During the afternoon there were “sports and pastimes” with several bands
playing.
The
exhibits which are all from the Oliver Collection are:-
HENTZNER,
Paul. “Travels in England during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth”. 1797.
TASKER,
Sohrabji Kuvarji. “Jubilee Persian Poem to Mother Victoria”. 1887.
HOLMES,
Richard R. Queen Victoria. 1897.
DAWE,
C S. Queen Victoria and her people. c.1898.
LIDDELL,
H G. The Queen’s Jubilee: a sermon. 1887.