Published 19/01/2022
In 2022, Her Majesty The Queen becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, a reign of 70 years, having acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952 when she was 25 years old. While The Royal Collection is not personally owned by The Queen, it is held in trust by her as Sovereign for her successors and the nation.
The celebration of the Sovereign's Jubilee began in the long reign of George III. The beginning of the 50th year of his reign, in 1809, was marked with a service in Windsor and a grand fete and firework display at Frogmore.
Public festivities reached new heights during the reign of Queen Victoria who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee on 22 June 1897, making her the longest serving British monarch until Her Majesty surpassed this in 2015. On that day in 1897, the occasion was marked with a procession to St Paul's Cathedral, where a short service of thanksgiving was held outside the building, as the Queen was too frail to manage the steps.
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The procession continued then via the Mansion House across London Bridge and through South London, before returning over Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace. In her journal, Queen Victoria wrote: "No one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was given to me, passing through those 6 miles of streets . . . The cheering was quite deafening & every face seemed to be filled with real joy. I was much moved and gratified."
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This year, the celebrations marking Her Majesty The Queen’s historic reign will culminate in the Platinum Jubilee weekend in June and will include an extended bank holiday, the lighting of beacons throughout the UK and Commonwealth, a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, a live concert from Buckingham Palace and a special pageant featuring over 5,000 people. Royal Collection Trust, the department of the Royal Household responsible for the care of the Royal Collection, has also announced a series of displays looking at The Queen’s accession, coronation and reign.
The Royal Collection is one of the largest art collections in the world. Running to more than a million objects, it is a unique and valuable record of the personal tastes of kings and queens over the past 500 years. In addition to well-known paintings, drawings and other works of art, the Collection includes the contents of 15 royal residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public, enabling visitors to enjoy the works of art in the historic settings for which they were originally acquired many centuries ago.
You can explore images from the Royal Collection on our website, including a small selection of objects related to past royal jubilees as well as significant artists in the Collection, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Contact our sales team for enquiries about licensing images and clearing copyright.
