Victoria the Great?

Question

Considering the vast expansion of the British Empire, the Industrial Revolution, the unchallenged British Military and Naval Supremacy, literature, economics and many more achievements in the Victorian Era, why has she never been titled "the Great", as with Alfred the Great? What still seems to distinguish them from each other?

Answer 1

Easy..... because she was never great...

All that stuff like the achievements in science, literature.... and all that happened thanks to the scientists, poets, engineers and soldiers that worked exceptionally hard to help industrialise Britain....  Britain certainly didn't become what it is today just because some queen sat on her fat behind and just watched from afar as all the commoners did all the hard work and she expects to be called great?? doesn't make much sense to me...

Answer 2

Alfred had to do it the old fashioned way,with a sword. Victoria simply inherited her throne.

Answer 3

Maybe because she did not fight or win any war... the stuff she did for britain aren't any different to what other monarchs did for they're own countries.... for example the Emperor Meiji of Japan influenced Japan greatly and helped modernise and industrialise it.... similar to what Victoria did for Britain.

I think that a monarch must do something exceptionally unique before they can hold the title Great. For example, Peter the Great carried out a policy of Westernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into the Russian Empire, a major European power.

Answer 4

Cognomens depend entirely on attitudes toward the person in question and also on the passage of time. They are more common for individuals farther back than those in recent history.

Victoria also secluded herself for several decades after the death of her husband, Albert, the Prince Consort. Perhaps that inactivity also contributes to why she isn't known as the "great".

Answer 5

Alfred the Great (c. 849 – 26 October 899) is noted for his defense of the kingdom against the Danish Vikings, becoming the only English King to be awarded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was a learned man, and encouraged education and improved his kingdom's law system as well as its military structure. He was actually a "true ruler" who ran the country and is considered the first King of England. Alfred has the reputation of being a great warrior as well as a social reformer who built towns and promoted education by starting schools and translating texts from Latin.

On the other hand, Queen Victoria is only remembered as the longest reigning British monarch and the figurehead of a vast empire. She oversaw vast changes in British society and gave her name to an age. Britain was evolving into a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch had few powers and was expected to remain above party politics. Although Victoria did sometimes express her views very forcefully in private, she was still very much a symbolic figure. Queen Victoria was credited for placing a strong emphasis on morality and family values, and did gain her the nickname “Grandmother of Europe.”

Answer 6

Possibly because she's a woman, not because of today's society but becaiuse of the way it was in the past.