Alexandra – Queen of Great Britain & Ireland

Alexandra – Queen of Great Britain & Ireland

Queen Alexandra was the was the longest-serving Princess of Wales in British history.
She was the long suffering wife to her serially unfaithful husband, ‘Dirty Bertie’ or ‘Edward the Caresser’ – the future King Edward VII.

Alexandra was born on 1st December 1844, in Copenhagen.
She was the eldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark and his consort, Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

On 10th March 1863, Alexandra was married to Edward Prince of Wales ~ the future King Edward VII.

Alexandra was said to be exceptionally pretty with a graceful manner.
With the vision of sad old Queen Victoria on the throne, Alexandra quickly became the fashion leader – for a society starved of a glamorous royal leading lady.

This made the new princess an immediate and lasting favourite with the British public.

Alexandra and Edward had six children together:

Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence;

George, Duke of York, afterward King George V;

Louise, afterward Duchess of Fife.

Victoria.

Maud, afterward queen of Norway.

Her sixth and final pregnancy ended with the birth of a son John, in April 1871, but the infant died the next day.
The baby was not buried in state with other members of the royal family at Windsor, but in strict privacy in the churchyard at Sandringham.

A relatively poor Danish Princess from a modest home in Copenhagen, Alexandra took centre stage in royal public life.

Queen Victoria had withdrawn from all state occasions since the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861.

Much to her displeasure, the Prince and Princess of Wales stepped in to become the popular and ever-present face of the British monarchy

Edward was a man of gargantuan sexual appetites, and had many mistresses.
With a less than attentive husband, Princess Alexandra surrounded herself with a loyal court at Marlborough House.

She was devoted to her two sons and three daughters who called her ‘Motherdear’ until the day she died.

A serious illness in 1867 left Alexandra with a limp and accentuated a hereditary deafness.
As queen she devoted much of her income and time to the poor and suffering.

She founded the Imperial Military Nursing Service in 1902, and started Alexandra Rose Day to raise funds for British hospitals.

Tragedy blighted Princess Alexandra’s life in 1892, when her eldest son Prince Albert Victor ‘Eddy’, died of pneumonia aged twenty-eight.

Prince Eddy’s bedroom at Sandringham was preserved in its entirety as a shrine to the king who never was.

When Edward VII ascended to the throne in 1901, Queen Alexandra initially refused to move into Buckingham Palace.

Once in the Palace and Windsor Castle, however, Queen Alexandra set about decorating the private apartments and state rooms that had barely been touched for half a century.
It is her taste that can largely be seen today.

As a tribute to his wife, King Edward VIII made Queen Alexandra the first Lady Knight of the Garter since the 15th century.

Queen Alexandra was in Copenhagen when a telegram arrived announcing King Edward VII’s final illness.
She returned to Buckingham Palace and was with the king when he passed away.

Alexandra allowed the king’s mistress Alice Keppel, a final farewell.

Alexandra retained a youthful appearance into her senior years, but during the war her age caught up with her.
Her legendary beauty did not survive the last years of her life.
Now the Queen Mother, she was only seen in public heavily veiled and made-up.

Towards the end of her life, her memory and speech became impaired.

Alexandra died on 20 November 1925 at Sandringham House from a heart attack eleven days before her 81st birthday.

Queen Alexandra lay in state at Westminster Abbey, and was interred on 28th November next to her husband in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.