Who was a better queen?

Question

Queen Elizabeth I or Queen Victoria?

it has been a debate for years who the better queen is...who do you think is better and why?

Answer 1

Both young women when they came to the throne, Victoria was a sheltered Princess who knew little of early 19th century England, advised first by significant prime ministers and ultimately her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg, until his death in 1861, when Victoria went into a disturbingly extended period of mourning, with most of her brood of children by her side. victoria was not so much a ruler as a regnant. She was England's greatest head of state, possibly it's most identifiable character, but Victoria as a Queen did little to shape the destiny of England. Parliament had long before seen to it that no king or queen would have absolute power again-- Not after Charles I was beheaded some 200 years earlier.

That said, Victoria most definitely shaped the cultural fiber of England. She presented, with Albert, the ideal of the middle class family value systemn as typified at that time. A bit of an eccentirc in her later days, she wasn't simply Queen of England, she WAS England-- Britain. But she was not, in and of herself, a creature of tremendous power-- rather, she was the center of the power that the monarchy had become, which really was quite separate from the country itself.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was arguably England's last absolute monarch. This woman spent several years in exile of court, with several of those months spent in the Tower. The period of her youth till her coronation in 1558 is an absolutely amazing story.

What follows is greater still. It was Elizabeth who refilled the coffers of England, set the Renaissance in play, established England as a world power (with the defeat of the Spanish Armada), essentially finalized the outward fighting of Protestants and Catholics (with her own brand of inward Protestantism), and with the creation of the Virgin Queen Gloriana, established the first cult of royalty in the modern era.

Elizabeth I is justifiably called England's greatest monarch, a richly deserved title. The fact that Victoria remains a relatively unimportant enigma barely 100 years after her death and Elizabeth still mystifies writers, clerics, historians, artists and dreamers is really enough said.

The current Queen is very much an incarnation of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria-- a homebody of no great appeal founded on a great sense of duty.

But Gloriana was a woman of tact, integrity and mystique, whose fits of anger could drive the court to hide or whose favor could draw the most powerful aristocracy to their feet.

Look at it this way. Had Victoria lived in Elizabethan England, she would have been considered a frumpy, maternal, rather useless spinner of cloth. With no great beauty and no great wit, she would not have entered the courtly circles.

Had Elizabeth lived in Victoria's day, she likely would have championed female suffrage, carried on in the theaters and clubs of London with unheeded indiscretion, and despite her middling looks, been a marvelous society hostess, and been witty and brazen enough to have entered the courtly circles.

Victoria was Queen because the nation needed a Queen; Elizabeth was Queen because she knew England needed her as Queen. Having survived what she did, she gave it back to the country in ways that to this day we have trouble imagining.

Answer 2

Queen Elizabeth

Answer 3

I think Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was an amazing Queen, she survived different plots and rebellions. Her reign( also called the Elizabethan Era) Arts increased. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow and Ben Jonson flourished in this era and she held the dangerous Catholic VS Protestant in check. Something her siblings could not do ( Edward VI was an extreme protestant and Mary I was another extreme but catholic) and over all she helped steady the nation. She was also a brilliant diplomat. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) her reign was most noted for the expansion of British Empire and the industrial revolution. She was a good diplomat and she survived three assassination attempts. She was a good Queen in her time so is kind of difficult to chose but overall I think Elizabeth I was a better Queen.

Answer 4

Queen Elizabeth II

Answer 5

Personally I haven't read either of there rulings, but I know that Elizabeth the 1 reallly was anxious and she wanted to be a really good Queen so I imagine she was. Victoria I read up on she was a good mom as far as I am have read at leastly I think, she was a good queen I beleive they made the Victorian times right ?
all 4 now
-Natalie

Answer 6

Well, Queen Victoria never had anyone beheaded. Does that count for anything?
All joking aside, during Queen Victoria's rule England made tremendous progress, socially, technically and politically. And Victoria's was a peaceful age, while England in the time of Elizabeth 1 was constantly embattled.

Answer 7

I say Victoria. She reigned a long time as did Elizabeth I.

During Victoria's reign there were many changes- especially in terms of transportation and communication.

Government dissenters weren't imprisoned and executed. Prisoners were more humanely treated. ("more" is relative, I guess).

Victoria's empire was world-wide. Elizabeth's was just beginning to grow.

It's been a while since I studied British Royal History. Just my observations.

Answer 8

OF COURSE QUEEN ZENOBIA!
Women's History
Zenobia




Zenobia was a third-century queen of Palmyra, a "warrior queen." Zenobia led her people in a war against Rome, much like Boudica did in England. Zenobia appears to have been an Arab, although she may have had many other dashes of blood in her, including Aramaean. Palmyrene inscriptions are found in the Greek, Latin and Aramaic languages. Although Zenobia claimed to have been a descendent of Cleopatra (of Egypt), there appears to be no concrete evidence of that. She did, however, know the Egyptian language and had a strong predisposition towards the Egyptian culture. Her mother may have been Egyptian. By associating herself with a past, glorious woman warrior, Zenobia understood the power of good public relations.

Answer 9

Queen Latifah

Answer 10

Elizabeth.

Answer 11

Elizabeth, she asserted herself and didn't let her counselors decide her life for her, Victoria just liked to try to control the world, especially colonizing Africa and stuff I've always kinda thought of her as a bully, but Elizabeth is like a role model, she was the original feminist.