Party like it's 1897!

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Rosalind Ormiston gets a taste of the last Diamond Jubilee – Queen Victoria's

This year, with so many exhibitions and events in the UK to celebrate HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Kensington Palace has cleverly chosen to take a look at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria, the only other British monarch to achieve this landmark, in 1897. ‘Jubilee – A View from the Crowd’ is entertaining; it captures the spirit of the 1897 Jubilee in London from the viewpoint of those who celebrated it, from duchesses to the ‘deserving poor’.

The exhibition is located in the new Pigott galleries and entry is included in the visitor’s ticket price for Kensington Palace. At the entrance one walks under a triumphal arch, decorated with floral tributes created by Kensington community groups, and copied from one created at Balmoral in 1897. This was just one of thousands of temporary arches erected in cities throughout the UK, to mark that jubilee.

A floor map of London, taken from Charles Booth’s ‘poverty map’ of 1889, explores the streets through a model city, with key building landmarks from St Paul’s Cathedral to Buckingham Palace. Visitors can follow the route that Queen Victoria travelled in the Royal Procession held on 22 June 1897 – with 50,000 troops taking part and three million people watching ­– the Victorian equivalent of London’s Royal River Pageant that was held this year on 3 June. The room is dark to preserve its most prized object; a flounce of Honiton lace from Queen Victoria’s wedding dress, which was later worn by the Queen on significant family occasions and for her official Jubilee photograph (actually taken in 1893).

From here one enters a ‘Victorian’ room complete with cabinets of Jubilee memorabilia, plates and teapots, and assorted china all bearing Jubilee sentiments, plus bunting, flags, ‘Jubilee’ slippers and special greetings cards. Here, one can write and post a card to the Queen in a red pillar box. Then on through to a darkened room with a video installation that is meant to create a feeling of being there, as one of the crowd in 1897, to witness Queen Victoria passing with her processional entourage, with the sounds and images of the horses and the carriages. It didn’t work for me but I was intrigued by the display in the room that followed, which classified the division in celebrations between Victorian rich and poor. A table is set for a jubilee dinner. It features plates on one side with the menu for Queen Victoria’s 14-course dinner prepared by 24 chefs, and on the other side, a lunch for the ‘deserving poor’; over 300,000 were chosen from Parish records to enjoy a celebratory meal, including beef and veal pie, oranges and dates, paid for by Princess Alexandra with support from the tea magnate, Sir Thomas Lipton.

In this room too, one cannot fail to be impressed with the magnificent fancy dress created for Louise, Duchess of Devonshire for her Jubilee ball on 2 July 1897; the green and gold fabrics remain gloriously rich – a hint of ‘art nouveau’ in her dress with peacock feather design. One can imagine her, dressed as Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra and absolutely stunning her guests. By contrast, on display, a home-made fancy dress from Norwich was created from Paisley shawl scraps. The city celebrated with a cycle carnival procession of 100 bicycles. The entertainment for Victorian children, rich and poor, is signified by a fabulous Punch and Judy tent complete with puppets of Queen Victoria in her carriage and the cheering crowds. The children who visit this exhibition can go into the tent to create their own show.

This is a compact, playful exhibition for every age group. To link to it, Kensington Palace has created a vivid programme of events running throughout the summer that will attract visitors; and, a ‘how to’ series of video guides with a Jubilee theme of baking, bunting and Morris dancing, with food historian Dr Annie Grey, textile artist Xtine Lamb and, the ’World Famous Hammersmith Morris Men’ to help you party like it’s 1897!