England, over time, has had its fair share of beautiful queens.
But this particular lady outshone most, her looks were breathtaking,
but unfortunately, her downfall was her personality
and intelligence, which neither matched her appearance.
She was born to Prince Christian of Denmark, heir
to the throne of his childless brother King Frederick.
Her mother was Louisa of Hesse, a descendant of George II.
Being one of five children, they were brought up in
what can only be described as a poor environment.
The faltering palace in which they lived was given by Louisa's father,
a miser at the best of times.
The girls had to make their clothes and share bedrooms.
But the cramped existence would soon dwindle from memory
as the years passed the family grew in stature and wealth.
At the age
of 17, the possibility of marriage came beckoning to Edward prince of Wales.
So we'll now look back at the eventful life of Alexandra
of Denmark.
Alex's family were thrilled
at the news of their daughter becoming engaged to a prince.
England would be an excellent ally for their tiny country,
especially as now Prussia and all its might were forming
and looking towards provinces within Denmark.
Yet away from the turbulent politics of the day,
Alexandra would be in a good place, with a new adventure and quite possibly
a little money to take away her initial hardship when growing up.
When the prince began his courtship, he was bound over by her beauty.
Alexandra knew
she was marrying a man with faults; most at the time were public knowledge.
His parents gave little time
to him, favouring their eldest child Vicky who was always above him in favouritism.
Edward was left wanting from an early age.
When he was just six years old, one of Victoria's ladies in waiting
would note that "the prince of wales is more timid than vicky,
and the queen says, "he is a stupid boy." Stupid
or not, Edward was, as you'd expect, sensitive to such criticism.
His life would pan out so that no one ever controlled him,
he was left to his own devices, but that continued to bring more shame.
Edward's father was similar in that he doted on Vicky; however,
he also took time out to encourage his son.
Education was high on the list,
but Edward never got to grips with anything testing, and eventually,
the only outcome was a failure, which worried Edward at the time.
Edward came into his own as a socialite.
He loved people and entertained them royally.
As with all previous Hanoverians, his promiscuity levels were off the chart.
Even in his teenage years, he had already achieved a reputation
as a boy who would have to watch where he stepped in the coming years.
It was all quite dissatisfying
for the royals, seeing their son behave in such a manner.
To stem the flow, it was at the age of 18 that his parents
would begin the search for a suitable wife.
Although still 14 at the time, Alexandra was muted,
yet the family said they wanted a solid german girl.
But as we know, this never transpired.
In 1861
disaster struck when Edward's father died.
Prince Albert had been Victoria's rock throughout their life together,
but now he was gone, and things would change.
Albert had approved the marriage of Edward and Alexandra.
But Victoria, although against this and still
grief-stricken, carried out her husband's wishes.
The Queen made it clear
that England would not get involved in the Danish-Prussian dispute.
After all, Prussia was Vicky's!
The wedding went
ahead on 10 March 1863 at St Georges Chapel Windsor.
Victoria, who now would not be seen in public due
to mourning her late husband, upon a balcony
she stared continuously at his bust in the chapel throughout the ceremony.
Yet this would bring criticism to her for the treatment
of the 22-year-old prince and his 19-year-old bride.
The couple didn't care; they were free of constraints.
At last, Alexandra had stability and, more importantly, money and luxury.
Still, even at this early stage, neither of them could have envisaged
a further 40 years of what can only be described as an apprenticeship.
Victoria was now out of sight,
spending her time secluded at Windsor.
It was a time to pop champagne bottles and party.
Edward's father had never taken to the aristocracy, yet
now they flocked to be with the prince and his princess.
They would spend their time with the idle rich, a life devoted
to pleasure.
It was now that a split occurred in society.
The large monogamous lifestyle of Victoria and Albert
became the standard for middle-class families.
The way Edward and Alexandra lived was the complete opposite,
affairs and pleasure were the order of the day,
and this behaviour became the norm for what we'd call today the aristocracy.
Alexandra produced five children, two boys and three girls.
In January of 1864,
Alexandra was seven months pregnant when for some reason,
she thought it might be fun to go ice skating on a frozen pond at Frogmore.
Later she would attend a child's party
with young royals; what happened next shocked the court.
She went into premature labour and delivered a boy weighing just three
and quarter pounds.
The child lacked oxygen yet survived,
but in later years, he would suffer from an inability to learn and concentrate,
and his vacant looks would mark him as unsuitable
to become king of England.
At the time of Albert's birth, Denmark
and Prussia had continued vying for power and lands.
Prussia was now busy processing its newly captured principalities
to increase its overall might and form a united Germany.
A European tour was proposed for the prince and princess, yet
Victoria made it very clear she didn't want them to visit Denmark,
although Prussia could and would be scheduled for their trip.
Alexandra was clearly upset at this, yet they did see her family,
although only for a short time, not because of Victoria's words
but because Edward found them to be boring.
Domestic matters would once again
concentrate the minds of royalty when Alexandra became seriously ill.
It's thought she may have suffered from polio, yet
it was diagnosed as rheumatic fever.
Edward showed little care for her continuing his pursuits with the usual
abandonment of other women while his wife lay in bed with severe pain.
The results of Alexandra's illness would be that she was left with a limp
and the start of deafness, which would worsen over the years.
Although Alexandra ignored her husband's affairs,
she never forgot his insensitive behaviour toward her
in a time of need.
Alexandra turned towards her children for relief,
something she now lacked from her husband, although his promiscuity
never became a competition, and it was something she vehemently avoided.
In 1871 she gave birth prematurely
to a boy who sadly died within days; Alexandra
blamed herself for this, but so did queen Victoria.
The royal family's reputation once again fell under scrutiny;
there was a lack of involvement, it seemed their only feelings
were to themselves, and the people were feeling neglected.
Talk was high on the agenda to form a republic.
Edward had been summoned to open court
after he was found to have committed adultery.
Yet his wife stood by him, and eventually, he walked away a free man
but the crowds outside booed and jeered the couple as they left.
In instances such as this, people said,
"who needs them." Edward then contracted typhoid in 1871,
and he was close to death on occasions over the next few weeks.
It wasn't until February the following year he recovered.
The illness had caused concern in the people, and these events rocked them.
Suddenly, queen
Victoria agreed to come out of hiding and lead a public procession to St.
Pauls on 27 February 1872.
She was followed by both the prince and princess, who just months
earlier were booed.
Yet on this occasion, they received a hero's welcome.
The Queen was present, and the future king,
talk of a republic was dead.
It's amusing how things change in life.
Once Alexandra was pretty much hated by Victoria,
but the Queen started to show affection for some reason.
She had realised that her son's endless games were deflating for the princess
but was now proud of Alexandra's attempts to continue graciously.
Alexandra knew she couldn't change him, Edward was set his ways.
On one occasion, Lord Randolph Churchill had to strive hard
to get Alexandra to even talk to her husband.
He had returned from an overseas trip in which he became involved
to the point of being infatuated with Frances,
Lady Brooke, aka daisy.
Alexandra roared with rage, and it looked as though Edward had gone
beyond the bounds of even his disloyal decency on this occasion.
Yet once again, fate would pull them back together.
The sudden death of their eldest son, Albert duke of Clarence,
would bring mutual grief to the family just weeks
before he was due to marry Mary of Teck.
Both had been very fond of their son,
who passed at the young age of just 28.
George, Duke of York, would replace him and go on to marry Mary.
Edward continued his allegiances with other women,
but the next one also became great friends with Alexandra.
She was Mrs Alice Keppel and had replaced Daisy,
who had faded from the prince's charms in the mid-'90s.
So close were Alexandra and Alice;
she was invited to his bedside and sat with him when he died.
One component of Alexandra's life took a turn for the worse
as the years rolled away.
She was, as we know, not an intellectual person,
her education was lacking, and with now no real love
for her husband, she would become very possessive of her children.
Alexandra would become hysterical when one left the family home,
and the one proviso was they must keep in touch at every opportunity.
Her daughters were also under the closest of eyes.
Alexandra would use the flimsiest excuses for them not to befriend
any man, and marriage was indeed a no go area.
Her eldest daughter Louise did manage to escape by way of Victoria,
who had agreed she could marry a Scottish duke.
Their second daughter, Victoria, was not so lucky
and would become a virtual servant to her mother.
Maud, her third, did not leave until her late
twenties to marry Charles Christian of Denmark.
But in 1905, he became king Haakon
VII of Norway, and so Maud herself ended up as a queen in her own right.
The girls had a hard time with their mother,
but another had an even more arduous relationship with her.
That was Mary of Teck.
Alexandra had been full of joy that her son Albert would marry this lady.
Still, after his death, she didn't want George to become involved,
making the couple's lives quite unbearable until, eventually,
Mary managed to pull George away entirely from his overpowering mother.
Time drifted on;
Edward, by now, had become tiresome of his wait to become king and famously said,
"I don't mind praying for an eternal father,
but I must be the only man in the country afflicted by an eternal mother."
The wait ended in June 1901 with the death of the 82-year-old Queen.
The Victorian era was finally over,
and now time for a new Edwardian period.
The new king was 60 as he ascended the throne,
and his long-suffering wife would join him to become Queen at last.
Tragedy almost struck just a couple of days
before the coronation when Edward suffered acute appendicitis.
It was again touch and go if he'd make it.
But he did, and although the ceremony had to be postponed,
it would take place later in August that year.
The news was greeted with much excitement by the people,
and maybe now things would return to some sort of normality
and one in which the people could get behind and enthuse.
Back at court, the first thing Alexandra did
was have a complete revamp, especially at Buckingham palace.
She removed many of Victoria's quite morbid representations of Albert,
and once again, the area became a scene of light and brightness.
Times were changing, and Alexandra had to change also,
even though she wasn't particularly suitable for them.
She took time to look back at the life of Adelaide William IV's Queen.
After taking notes, she would endeavour to become more involved in charity work;
her causes involved hospitals, the poor,
prisons, and veterans of many wars.
Alexandra now showed great compassion; she even visited the Elephant Man
on many occasions even though, for many others,
this was not a visit they could accomplish without feeling nauseous.
But Alexandra continued to visit him
to the point it became a highlight in his sadly short life.
Edward was also
busy doing the only thing he knew: international diplomacy,
as Victoria had always kept him away from domestic politics.
Still, after his years of travelling, he had built solid relationships
with many foreign dignitaries and now had many connections.
The one-person
Edward struggled to favour was his cousin, the German Kaiser Wilhelm.
He had strengthened Germany to the point he was now looking to smaller nations
to acquire.
Edward, in his wisdom, made pacts with both France and Russia
to avoid further disruption to peace by Germany.
He managed to achieve this successfully, and it was known as the Entente
Cordiale of 1904.
Healthwise, Edward was starting to struggle;
all the years of partying and the high life were catching up,
and a life of wine, women and song began to take its toll.
In April 1910, he fell ill,
and his wife, on a trip around the Mediterranean, was summoned home.
She arrived just in time as Edward died the following day.
His funeral was spectacular, known as the swan song for royalty.
Nine kings, five heirs, and seven queens were amongst the representatives
from 70 countries who all paid their respects.
Yet within just ten years, many of them would be dead.
When Edward passed, it was said England had lost much of the fun
and excitement from his reign, not just Edwards but Alexandras also.
Although Alexandra must have
been dreading what was to come next, even though her son George was in line,
Mary would provide the stumbling block to any harmonious handover.
Alexandra was firmly moved aside;
there was no need for her to be in attendance at the new court.
She now lived in quiet seclusion at Sandringham
alongside her daughter Victoria who was still under her mother's
watchful eye and continuing to do her chores.
Alexandra would watch the country develop over the coming years.
she could only watch on as war exploded across Europe.
Her son George was badly hurt when his horse slipped in the mud
and rolled onto him.
Injuries from which he never fully recovered.
She was also unable to do anything about the revolution in Russia.
She watched on in horror as the whole family had been killed in a
Bolshevik bloodbath.
Four years
later, England and her allies had finally triumphed,
Kaiser Wilhelm was in exile, and Germany was now on its knees.
Alexandra restarted her life again, attempting to bring some happier times back.
In 1923 her darling Bertie, Duke of York, would marry lady, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
A wedding she attended and was said to be so happy at the occasion.
But she also possibly knew her time was nearly up.
Although her beauty had remained with her throughout life,
Alexandra was now frail and withering slowly.
She said, "think of me as I used to be; now I am breaking up."
In November
1925, Alexandra had a massive heart attack; both the king and his wife were by
her side at the end, and her grandsons arrived just minutes too late.
Alexandra had been a faithful wife, and even with her failings,
she had still done the very best she could.
One poignant anecdote of Alexandra was when she once
remarked on her husband Edward by saying, "in spite of all the others,
he loved me the best." Maybe it was just wishful thinking!