KYOTO--With her team far behind, Sherry Drury took the “tasuki” sash in a national women’s ekiden long-distance relay race here on Jan. 15 and ran like a sprinter, her arms swinging wide.

Despite monarchy being largely constitutional at the start of Queen Victoria’s ascension, her 63-year reign saw her preside over the abolition of slavery, the expansion of workers’ welfare, the speedy ...