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Golden Jubilee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Alternative meaning: The Golden Jubilee diamond
A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary of a monarch's reign.
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In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Realms, a Golden Jubilee celebration is held in the 50th year of a monarch's reign.
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.
- Further information: Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
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 could not 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".
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:
- George III of the United Kingdom: 59 years
- James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland: 57 years (as King James VI of Scotland)
- Henry III of England: 56 years
In Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-regining monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.