The Bicentenary of Queen Victoria

Abstract

The past year, 2019, was the bicentenary of the birth of Queen Victoria. Since 2001, the centenary of her death, much has changed in the scholarship about the British queen. Her own journals and correspondence are more available for researchers. European monarchies are now being taken seriously as historical topics. There is also less agreement about the Victorian era as a distinct period of study, leaving Victoria's own relationship with the era she eponymizes less certain. With these changing perspectives in mind, this article looks at six recent books about Victoria (four biographies, one study of royal matchmaking, and one edited volume) in order to reassess her reign. The article is focused on three themes: Queen Victoria as a female monarch, her role in building a dynastic empire, and her prerogative—how she influenced the politics of church and state. The article concludes by warning that biography is not the medium best suited for taking advantage of all the new historical contexts for understanding Queen Victoria's life.