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.

中文翻译：

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维多利亚女王诞辰二百周年

过去的一年，也就是 2019 年，是维多利亚女王诞辰 200 周年。自 2001 年，即她逝世一百周年以来，有关英国女王的学术研究发生了很大变化。她自己的期刊和信件更适合研究人员使用。欧洲君主制现在正作为历史话题被认真对待。关于维多利亚时代作为一个独特的研究时期的共识也较少，这使得维多利亚自己与她同名的时代的关系不太确定。考虑到这些不断变化的观点，本文着眼于最近六本关于维多利亚的书籍（四本传记、一本关于皇室婚介的研究和一本编辑卷），以重新评估她的统治。文章关注三个主题：维多利亚女王作为女性君主、她在建立王朝帝国中的角色、以及她的特权——她如何影响教会和国家的政治。文章最后警告说，传记并不是最适合利用所有新的历史背景来了解维多利亚女王生平的媒介。