| Description | From 21 May, Crowe describes preparations for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, culminating in Her Majesty's procession on 22 June: "Enthusiasm, shouting & hurrahing went on crescendo till the Queen appeared. Her white hair shone conspicuously as she passed, her white plume in bonnet bobbing around, & then all was over. A young sailor-Jack clambered up to the Lamp post with another who sat on the cross-bar holding a "Program", both made a good foreground to the rows of ladies in impromptu balconies cheering and shaking handkerchiefs lustily". Three days later, Crowe sees "all the Court pass by in Royal Carriages in Pall Mall. First the Prince of Wales & Princess, looking worn, with a deep dent in her cheek, then the German Empress looking solemn, then Duke of York & his wife, then more swells in Carriages". Finally, on 28 June, "I saw Her Majesty pass by quite close (I was near the Wellington statue) as she came from the Garden Party. She had on a Light Toned head dress, wh. had the look of Romney's feminine structures. The smaller people went by, Eastern potentates blazing in gold, The Duke of Cambridge &c..." |