30 April 2013

My all-time favorite royal: Queen Alexandra of Great Britain

 My all-time favorite royal is Queen Alexandra. I read of her that the amount of jewels she wore would have looked vulgar on any other woman, but she could pull it off because she was so ethereal and graceful. She often worn large rows of pearls and diamonds around her neck to cover up a scar on her neck.

She was the daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark (both are interred at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark). One of her sisters (Thyra) was the Queen of Hanover, and another (Dagmar) was Empress Marie of Russia. One brother was King Frederik of Denmark, the other was King George I of Greece. Her father, Christian IX, was called "the Grandfather of Europe," and he inhabited Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.

Queen Alexandra pictured in front of her three daughters (l-r): Princess Maud (later Queen Maud of Norway), Princess Victoria, and Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife.

A beautiful full-color painting of Alexandra on her coronation day in 1902. She was well into her fifties by then.

Another black and white painting of Alexandra on her coronation day.

A photograph of Alexandra on her coronation day. She is wearing a diamond spike tiara around her hips, and diamond bow brooches connecting long diamond chains are down the front of her dress.

A large painting of Queen Alexandra in Buckingham Palace.

Queen Alexandra was Princess of Wales for most of her life, but she played the royal part well, garnering respect from all she met. It was said she wasn't the most pleasant mother, as George V sure didn't think so!

Queen Alexandra's daughter, Queen Maud, who becames the first queen of newly independent Norway in the early 20th century.


Queen Alexandra's daughter, Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife.