The jewel shown here is silver gilt with brilliants the bar at the top of the light blue ribbon supports the pin, at the bottom of the light blue ribbon is a ring attached to a Queens Crown with coloured enamel the Jewel is silver gilt and has the Square and Compasses and in the centre is a diamond of brilliants and an portrait of Queen Victoria on either side is the dates 1837-1897 in blue enamel. On the reverse the jewel has the stamp marks for Kenning & Son, London. Hallmarks for London, 1897.
In total there were seven variants of this jewel produced the basic version shown here, the others were of similar design but had date bars attached to the ribbon with the date 14th June 1897 these were presented to those who attended a special meeting held at the Royal Albert Hall London, that was presided over by the then Grand Master HRH the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). There were also two gold variants one 9ct and one 18ct and finally a Stewards Jewel with an “S” on the blue ribbon, for those who acted as Stewards at the special meeting.
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22nd June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession on 20th June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the Island in 1846 and this resulted in the Victoia Tower being built in St Peter Port to commemorate this visit, the foundation stone was laid on the 27th May 1848 with local Freemasons in attendance as was explained in our Museum Monday post on the 24th April 2023, they further visited the Island on the 14th August 1859 and inspected the then completed tower.
