In the span of a year and a half, we have just wrapped up celebrating a third royal jubilee. While it somewhat appears like these are common occurrences, they are actually fairly rare. Not only does a monarch need to live for several decades to achieve a jubilee, they need to be ruling for that period of time. Aside from monarchs like King Louis XIV of France, we normally do not see monarchs ascend to their throne as a child and then reign for 50+ years. In honour of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s Golden Jubilee this year, we are going to explore the history of royal jubilees!
Note: This post will largely be focusing on European Jubilees as that is my area of research. From my understanding, in many Asian monarchies, the 60th year will be celebrated as an important milestone but it would not necessarily be considered a Jubilee in the way that we would understand. If you have any sources on non-European jubilees to recommend, please leave a comment!
The History of Royal Jubilees in Europe
What is a royal jubilee?
A jubilee is defined as: “a special anniversary of an event, especially one celebrating twenty-five or fifty years of a reign or activity.” It does not have to be celebrating a royal anniversary- many governments and organisations will celebrate jubilee anniversaries. (This post is obviously focusing on royal jubilees, though.)
There are four types of royal jubilees that we have seen in the early modern, industrial, and modern periods. Many monarchs will reach or pass these various milestones but it’s not until the industrial and modern periods that we see planned, public celebrations that we are familiar with now.
1) Silver Jubilee
The Silver Jubilee celebrates 25 years on the throne. Because a lot of media only focuses on British Jubilees, it is often remarked that King George V was the first monarch to celebrate their Silver Jubilee. However, that is only true in Britain. You can see below that monarchs from several nations celebrated their Silver Jubilees.
2) Golden Jubilee
The Golden Jubilee celebrates 50 years on the throne. This is a fairly significant milestone as relatively few monarchs reach their 50th anniversary.
3) Diamond Jubilee
The Diamond Jubilee celebrates 60 years on the throne- in other usages, people will use the term “diamond jubilee” to refer to a 75th anniversary but in a royal context, it signifies 60 years. Again, this is fairly rare.
4) Platinum Jubilee
The Platinum Jubilee celebrates 70 years on the throne, and the only Platinum Jubilee that has occurred is that of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. (Other monarchs have been on their throne for 70 years, but have not held formal Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
What Happens at Royal Jubilees?
Royal Jubilees vary- not every monarch will do the exact same thing. However, we do see some elements present at almost all royal jubilees. The monarch will attend a service of thanksgiving (also known as a Te Deum in some countries) celebrating their reign in a religious setting. They will also tend to have some sort of procession throughout the capital city, typically in a carriage. In the modern period, the jubilee concert seems to be a staple event in Europe.
European Royal Jubilees
Note: There is less information on some royal jubilees than others- if I am missing a modern royal jubilee celebration, please let me know so that I can add it to the list!
King George III of Great Britain- Golden Jubilee (1809)
King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway- Silver Jubilee (1897)
Queen Victoria of Great Britain- Diamond Jubilee (1897)
Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria- Golden Jubilee (1898)
Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands- Silver Jubilee (1923)
King Haakon IV of Norway- Silver Jubilee (1930)
King George V of Great Britain- Silver Jubilee (1935)
King Christian X of Denmark- Silver Jubilee (1937)
Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands- Golden Jubilee (1948)
King Baudouin I of Belgium- Silver Jubilee (1976)
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain- Silver Jubilee (1977)
Prince Ranier III of Monaco- Golden Jubilee (1995)
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark- Silver Jubilee (1997)
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden- Silver Jubilee (1998)
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain- Golden Jubilee (2002)
Queen Beatrix I of the Netherlands- Silver Jubilee (2005)
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain- Diamond Jubilee (2012)
King Harald V of Norway- Silver Jubilee (2016)
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain- Platinum Jubilee (2022)
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark- Golden Jubilee (2022)
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden- Golden Jubilee (2023)
Do you like following royal jubilees?
Cheers,
The Historian
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