Queen Victoria replaced him. Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria's reign. On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee, which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain. The prime ministers of all the self-governing Dominions were invited to London for the festivities. One reason for including the prime ministers of the Dominions and excluding foreign heads of state was to avoid having to
Coronation of Queen Victoria a monarch from a new generation would inevitably mean the progress of reform. William IV and his wife, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, had strong Tory sympathies, while Victoria's mother and namesake was known to favour the Whigs. It was assumed, to some extent correctly, that Queen Victoria had been brought up to hold similar views, which was reflected in popular ballads sold on the streets, one of which had Victoria saying: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">I'll make some alterations, I'll gain the people's right, I will have a radical Parliament Or they don't lodge here tonight.</poem> Although this was a wild distortion of