Photograph of Queen Victoria seated with a parasol in open carriage, pulled by eight horses, outside St Paul's Cathedral, London. Many clergy, choir, bands, congregation stand on the cathedral steps. Officiers on horseback in foreground; statue foreground right.

By 1897 Queen Victoria could only walk with some difficulty. It was decided that, as she would not easily be able to mount the stairs leading to St Paul's Cathedral, the Diamond Jubilee Service should be held outside the building, the Queen remaining in her carriage. The Queen found the scene 'most impressive', but her cousin Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was horrified at the idea that, after sixty years' reign, she should 'thank God in the Street!!!'