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In 1897, Joseph Chamberlain, the secretary of state for thecolonies, convinced Victoria to kill two birds with one stone: markthe 60th year of her reign but also celebrate the British empire"at its zenith", said the historian Walter Arnstein. At the time, Victoria reigned over a quarter of the world'spopulation, recalled royal expert Kate Williams. For her diamond jubilee -- celebrated on a single day rather thanthe four-day public holiday weekend this time -- the empire came toLondon. Chamberlain "invited 11 colonial ministers of the self-governingcolonies to be present, along with some Indian princes, andrepresentative colonial military detachments to be part of thejubilee procession", Arnstein told AFP. Indian lancers wearing turbans, mounted troops from New Zealand,Jamaican gunners, and even camels paraded in front of BuckinghamPalace on June 22, 1897, which was declared a public holiday. An impressive display was captured in grainy footage on shortblack-and-white films. More than a century later for Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee,there is no equivalent participation from the Commonwealth or its15 other realms where she is the head of state. "The empire has changed in her lifetime. It disintegrated," saidWilliams, the author of "Young Elizabeth: The Making of our Queen". This diamond jubilee "is much more a celebration of Britishhistory. It's much more a celebration of her reign and the Britishroyal family". In 1897, the jubilee was also celebrated with splendour across theempire, where sumptuous events were organised. Town clocks honouring the queen were erected in Malaya and NewZealand, and fountains inaugurated in Seychelles. Though Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth, there islittle of note taking place over the jubilee weekend in the other53 member states, with the exception of Canada, visited by PrinceWilliam and his wife Catherine, and his father Prince Charles andhis wife Camilla, in the last 12 months. Sunday's diamond jubilee pageant on the River Thames, the biggestspectacle of the weekend's events, was not transmitted live by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation on its main free-to-airchannel. It scheduled the 1975 film "Shampoo" instead. At the end of the 19th century, the idea of organising publicfestivities was still a relatively new concept in Britain, saidArnstein. On June 22, 1897, the queen went through London in a carriageprocession, as her great-great-grand-daughter will do on Tuesday. From Saint Paul's Cathedral to Buckingham Palace, hundreds ofthousands of people, including the US writer Mark Twain, throngedthe streets to cheer Victoria. She recorded the occasion in her journal. "No-one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was givento me, passing through those six miles of streets... The crowdswere quite indescribable and their enthusiasm truly marvelous anddeeply touching," the empress wrote. At the time, Victoria, aged 78 and suffering from arthritis andrheumatism, took part in the service at St Paul's from hercarriage. It was held outside as she could not walk up the cathedral steps. The scene elicited sarcasm abroad. "The Europeans were like: look at that queen. They've got to havethe celebration in the street in Britain!" said Williams. Similar jubilant scenes met Elizabeth as she led Sunday'sspectacular 1,000-boat flotilla with around 1.2 million braving therain to show their support. The eyes of the fashion world were on the queen's silver and whiteoutfit, a far cry from Victoria's day. Despite the celebrations, Victoria refused to change her blackmourning clothes, worn since the death of her beloved husbandprince Albert in 1861. In vain, "ministers begged her to wear a kind of golden robe to goto the ceremonies", Williams said. Instead, she wore a black silk outfit, topped off with a headdressdecorated with ostrich feathers. In 1897, organised by Victoria's daughter-in-law princessAlexandra, street feasts were laid on for 400,000 of London'spoorest residents. But the palace's generosity had its limits: it only saw the lightof day thanks to the funds of tea magnate Thomas Lipton. On Monday, Queen Elizabeth will welcome 10,000 subjects drawn froma lottery for a picnic at Buckingham Palace, paid for from theroyal coffers. I am an expert from portable-data-terminals.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Rugged Tablet PCS , Mobile Computer Barcode Scanner Manufacturer, GIS Terminal,and more.
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