Queen Victoria and Victorian England
attitude towards these attacks greatly strengthened her popularity. In 1876 she was
crowned Empress of India by Disraeli. In 1887 Victoria's Golden Jubilee was a grand
national celebration of her 50th year as Queen. The Golden Jubilee brought her out of her
shell, and she once again embraced public life. She toured English possessions and even
visited France (the first English monarch to do so since the coronation of Henry VI in
1431). With time, the private urgings of her family and the flattering attention of
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880, the Queen gradually
resumed her public duties. Despite her advanced age, Victoria continued her duties to the
end - including an official visit to Dublin in 1900. The Boer War in South Africa
overshadowed the end of her reign. As in the Crimean War nearly half a century earlier,
Victoria reviewed her troops and visited hospitals; she remained undaunted by British
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