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
Gaston, Count of Eu a first cousin once removed of both the British Monarch Queen Victoria and of her husband Albert, Prince Consort, through his mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The prince received a refined education under Julio Gauthier and the historian Auguste Trognon. He learned several foreign languages, which included Latin, English, German and Portuguese. His grandfather abdicated during the Revolution of 1848. Only five years old at the time, Gaston followed the king and his family who went into exile in Great Britain, establishing themselves in an old mansion at Claremont, in the southern region of England. In 1855, at