Gilbert and Sullivan well, and on 13 May 1883, at a party to celebrate the composer's 41st birthday, the guests, including the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), heard a direct relay of parts of "Iolanthe" from the Savoy. This was probably the first live "broadcast" of an opera. During the run of "Iolanthe", in 1883, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria. Although it was the operas with Gilbert that had earned him the broadest fame, the honour was conferred for his services to serious music. The musical establishment, and many critics, believed that this should put an end to his career as
Gilbert and Sullivan (reportedly including a version of "Pinafore" transformed into zarzuela style), Catalan and others. There are many German versions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including the popular "Der Mikado". There is even a German version of "The Grand Duke". Some German translations were made by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée, librettists of "Die Fledermaus" and other Viennese operettas, who even translated one of Sullivan's lesser-known operas, "The Chieftain", as "(Der Häuptling)". Gilbert adapted the stories of "H.M.S. Pinafore" and "The Mikado" into children's books called "The Pinafore Picture Book" and "The Story of The Mikado" giving, in some cases, backstory that