Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Review at Spithead, 26 June 1897 by Charles Dixon, 1898. Repro ID: BHC0645 ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonSpithead is a stretch of water in the Eastern Solent of Great Britain, between the entrance to Portsmouth harbour and the Isle of Wight.

Historically it was one of the most important anchorages of the British fleet, and was the scene of the indecisive action between the English and French in 1545 when the Mary Rose capsized, the first of the great naval mutinies of 1797 and many of the great celebratory Royal Naval Reviews of the 19th and 20th centuries.