Queen Victoria and Britain's first Diamond Jubilee As the nation
prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the accession to
the throne of Queen Elizabeth II, we look at the last time we
had a Diamond Jubilee - Queen Victoria's in 1897. While Victoria
- like the present Queen - enjoyed her special year at a time
when the monarchy was widely held in high esteem, there were
profound differences in the way things were done then. In 1887,
Victoria had been feted on her Golden Jubilee with huge
nationwide festivities, which included several modern-style
royal walkabouts. The Diamond Jubilee (the first time the term
had been used in the context of a 60th anniversary) saw an
older, less robust Queen take something of a backseat in the
lavish "Festival of the British Empire" proposed by Colonial
Secretary Joseph Chamberlain. Historian Prof Walter Arnstein
said the whole idea of staging large public celebrations was
still a novel concept to the British public of the day. "Britons
hadn't seen themselves as very good