Queen Victoria did not enjoy a silver jubilee (Who is the UK’s queen of queens?, 5 September). Apart from her not being in a condition to enjoy anything in 1862, a few months after Prince Albert’s death, the concept was unknown. “Jubilee” still meant a 50-year event, as in Leviticus, or an occasional year decreed by the pope for particular purposes. The first royal “silver jubilee” was that of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1886; the next noted by the Times was that of the King of Siam in 1893; the first British royal “silver jubilee” was that of George V in 1935.
Charles Gordon Clark
Bromyard, Herefordshire
• Clive Collins (Letters, 8 September) is rather overstating the case to suggest that Queen Victoria was “almost certainly” illegitimate. She was most certainly born in wedlock. As for her carrying of the gene for haemophilia despite no history of it in her ancestry, this is not a reliable indicator of paternity. There is no evidence that Victoria’s mother had any haemophiliac paramours, and in the 18/19th century male babies inheriting the gene rarely lived beyond the age of about 11 anyway. It is far more likely to have occurred as a random mutation in the gametes provided by one of her parents – such mutations are more common in older parents, and Victoria’s father was 51 when she was born.
Tim Lidbetter
Kingston upon Thames
