"History" asks: "What was it about Queen Victoria that was just
celebrated?" It was this; King George III. had reigned, on the day of
his death, 59 years and 95 days. The day came recently when Queen
Victoria had reigned 59 years and 96 days. That 96th day, when she began
on the longest reign in English history, if not in any history, was
celebrated. The next oldest living sovereign, in point of length of
reign, is Francis Joseph of Austria--1848. Other long English reigns,
after George III., were those of Ethelred II., 37 years; Henry I., 35
years; Henry III., 56 years; Edward I., 35 years; Edward III., 50 years;
Henry VI., 39 years; Henry VIII., 38 years; and Elizabeth, 44 years.
Victoria has not reached the age attained by George III., who died in
his 83d year. She is nearly of the age reached by George II., who died
in his 77th year. The houses of Normandy, Plantagenet, Lancaster, York,
Tudor, and the Stuarts were not very long-lived. The House of Hanover,
to which Queen Victoria belongs has given to Britain the most venerable
sovereigns in the persons of George II., George III., William IV., and
Victoria. Elizabeth, the most venerable scion of the House of Tudor,
died in her 71st year. She died in 1603, and from that year back to
Alfred, over 700 years, no English king or queen reached 70 years. One
of the notable events in the life of Queen Victoria was the celebration
of her "jubilee," in 1887, marking the completion of fifty years' reign.
Only three English monarchs lived to celebrate a jubilee year--Henry
III., Edward III., and George III.
Anna W. Auspach, 3326 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., is interested in
pressed flowers and monograms, and wants to hear from you, and Thomas C.
Gurnee, 443 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., wants to receive sample
copies of amateur papers. Harry W. Jones: The button which you
describe--red, white, and blue, with a very small centre, a raised edge,
and the ribbon lying in close folds, the whole being smaller than a
silver dime--is that of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. Why
"never seen in the button-hole of any save men well advanced in years"
is explained by the fact that it is an order of the officers and
ex-officers of the army, navy, and marine corps of the United States
during the civil war of now thirty years and more ago. There are twenty
commanderies in as many States. The order numbers about 8500 members.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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