In the last decades of her life and reign, Queen Victoria
received the nickname, "Grandmother of Europe." The nickname had
much literal justification, as her many children had married into
many of Europe's royal families, and her numerous grandchildren,
once grown, did the same. Her own children had married into the
houses of Prussia, Denmark, Russia, Schleswig-Holstein, Waldeck,
and Battenberg. Among her grandchildren were the future German Emperor
Wilhelm II; the future Queen Sophie of Greece; Maud the future
queen consort of Norway; the future czarina of Russia, Alexandra,
famed for her own, her husband Czar Nicholas II's, and their five
children's 1917 assassination by the Bolsheviks; Marie, the future
consort of King Ferdinand I of Romania; and the future Queen Victoria
Eugenie of Spain.
The two most memorable events of Victoria's later years
were the 1887 and 1897 celebrations of her Golden Jubilee and her
Diamond Jubilee. The Golden Jubilee marked her fiftieth year as
queen; the Diamond her sixtieth. The public festivities on these
occasions were massive. The Golden Jubilee featured the attendance
of representatives from all over the British Empire: Indian rajahs,
Burmese mandarins, tribal chieftains from Africa, and colonial
governors from all over the world. The Diamond Jubilee saw a similar
delegation, along with numerous guests from the foreign nations.
Historian David Thomson describes the occasions as "gigantic advertisements
for the new Empire of which Victoria had come to be the crowned
symbol, bringing enormous satisfaction to the masses." The events
were celebrated all over Great Britain and throughout the Empire.
Amidst such celebrations, Britain experienced social unrest
and the prospect of war in southern Africa. The end of the nineteenth century
saw the increased power of the Labor movement and unionism in Britain.
There were many labor strikes throughout the 1890s, and socialism
was gaining new ground among quarters of British workers and intellectuals
as it had not been able to in previous decades.
The Boer War finally broke out in 1899, and Britain's
southern African holdings were torn apart by violence, bloodshed,
and incidents of terrible brutality toward women and children,
especially toward of the native black population. The war would
not end for another three years.
Despite the hostilities in Africa and the anti-war sentiment
they effected among many back home in Britain, Victoria's popularity
as queen was unaffected. By the end of her days, she had achieved
a sort of popularity among her people which one might never have suspected
possible back in the time when the monarchy was being threatened
by republican movements to reform the government. Indeed, the security
of her once doubted son Edward's immanent succession was assured.
Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, at Osborne House
on the Isle of Wight. Her reign of nearly sixty-four years ended
as the longest in British history. At her funeral, she wore a white
dress and her wedding veil along with military regalia of the Order
of the Garter. Honoring her instructions before she died, London
was bedecked in purple and white, rather than the traditional black.
She was buried at Windsor Castle alongside Prince Albert, in a
mausoleum which she had built for them. Above the door of the tomb
are the words Victoria had inscribed before her death: "Farewell
best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in
Christ I shall rise again."
Honoring the death of Victoria, a writer in the London
Times wrote the following tribute in 1901: "If we have
had orderly evolution where other nations have gone through devastating
internal conflicts, if the Monarchystands not only broad-based
upon the people's will, but strong in the affections of kindred
nations overseas, we owe these results, to a degree which is hardly
possible to over-estimate, to the womanly sweetness, the gentle
sagacity, the utter disinterestedness, and the unassailable rectitude
of the Queen." Many in Britain shared the sentiment, and Victoria
was greatly missed after she was gone.
Queen Victoria's son, King Edward VII, succeeded her.
He died only nine years later, succeeded by his son, King George
V, grandfather of the present Queen Elizabeth II.
