Everything about Golden Jubilee totally explained
A
Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary of a
monarch's reign.
In the Commonwealth Realms
In the
United Kingdom and other
Commonwealth Realms, a Golden Jubilee celebration is held in the 50th year of a
monarch's reign.
For Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her
Golden Jubilee in
2002, having acceded to the throne in
1952. It was marked by a tour of the United Kingdom and her other realms, beginning with
Jamaica and moving on to
New Zealand,
Australia, and
Canada.
The highlight of the year was a massive celebration in
London during the first week of June, which included two large concerts taking place on the back lawn of
Buckingham Palace, and televised by the
BBC. The classical concert,
Prom at the Palace, starred:
inter alia,
Kiri te Kanawa,
Angela Gheorghiu and
Roberto Alagna with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra and
BBC Symphony Chorus conducted by
Sir Andrew Davis.
Michael Parkinson, famed UK talkshow veteran, was the
Master of Ceremonies. It concluded with a rendition of
Land of Hope and Glory, sung by the hundreds on the lawn and the thousands outside the palace gates, and in the parks watching the concert on big screens.
The same double audience - inside and outside the palace - attended and/or viewed the pop concert,
Party at the Palace, which was also televised. It began with a rendition of
God Save the Queen played by
Brian May of
Queen from the roof of the palace. In the onstage orchestra,
Phil Collins played drums for the whole event. Taking a broad view of pop music, the stars included Queen,
Tony Bennett,
Brian Wilson, Sir
Paul McCartney,
Rod Stewart and
Joe Cocker.
This was the first time that the Queen had opened
Buckingham Palace Gardens to the public for concerts. The
Royal Family sat in a large royal box and all appeared to enjoy the proceedings.
The week of celebration culminated in a national service of thanksgiving at
St. Paul's Cathedral, and a procession down
The Mall.
To mark the jubilee year, five towns in the UK were awarded
city status by Her Majesty.
For Queen Victoria
In
1887, the United Kingdom and the
British Empire celebrated
Queen Victoria's
Golden Jubilee. Victoria marked
20 June 1887—the fiftieth anniversary of her accession—with a banquet, to which fifty European kings and princes were invited. Although she couldn't have been aware of it, there was a plan by Irish nationalists to blow up
Westminster Abbey while the Queen attended a service of thanksgiving. This assassination attempt, when it was discovered, became known as
The Jubilee Plot. At the time, Victoria was an extremely popular monarch: The next day, she participated in a procession that, in the words of
Mark Twain, "stretched to the limit of sight in both directions".
Of other monarchs of Great Britain
Although the notion of a Jubilee celebration seems to be an innovation dating from Victoria's reign, prior to this there were three monarchs of the British Isles who reigned more than 50 years. They are:
In other countries
In
Thailand,
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his
Golden Jubilee on
9 June 1996.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Golden Jubilee'.
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