Abstract
For so relatively recent a queen consort, Alexandra (1844–1925) is a figure whose reputation has arguably found itself built on mythologised narratives. Popular perceptions position her as the beleaguered wife of an unpredictable husband, Edward VII—whose scandals eclipsed her own experiences. It is often her enduringly youthful appearance that is most remarked upon, yet previous biographies have not explored how she came to capitalise on this. This chapter considers Alexandra’s dress practices to explore more traditional approaches to life writing. Her garments have survived in museums around the world, covering different decades of her life. Using these alongside a variety of written sources and images, it is possible to build on existing biographical works. Looking at her world through the lens of clothing reveals much about her upbringing, her life at the heart of the British establishment, and how she used dress to control public perceptions of her royal role.
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Notes
- 1.
Before his accession, his formal title was the Prince of Wales, and within his family circle he was often referred to as Bertie, but for clarity I shall refer to him throughout as Edward.
- 2.
Georgina Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra (London: Constable & Co, 1969), 3, 223, 286.
- 3.
See my wider research in: Kate Strasdin, Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra (London: Bloomsbury, 2017).
- 4.
Richard Hough, Edward and Alexandra: Their Public and Private Lives (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1992), 9, 24.
- 5.
Coryne Hall, Little Mother of Russia (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 1999), 6.
- 6.
Hough, Edward and Alexandra, 8.
- 7.
Quoted in David Duff, Alexandra, Princess and Queen (London: Collins, 1980), 47.
- 8.
Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra 8. See also: Inger-Lise Klausen, Alexandra Af Wales: Prinsesse Fra Danmark (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2001), 18.
- 9.
RA VIC/Z462/101–2.
- 10.
Roger Fulford, ed., Dearest Mama: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1861–1864 (London: Evans Brothers, 1968), 164.
- 11.
Fulford, Dearest Mama, 53.
- 12.
Princess Victoria and Prince Frederick William were nicknamed Vicky and Fritz within their family.
- 13.
Royal Archive—RA Z31/45, V to QV, 8/29/77
- 14.
Lady Walburga Paget, Scenes and Memories (London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1912), 97.
- 15.
RA/Z/463/123
- 16.
Queen Victoria’s Office of Robes accounts are in The National Archives at Kew. Queen Alexandra’s Wardrobe Accounts are held in the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle.
- 17.
Sarah Tooley, The Life of Queen Alexandra (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1902), 46.
- 18.
Tooley, Life of Queen Alexandra, 23.
- 19.
For the entirety of their married life, Marlborough House was their official residence in London. Their favourite home, which they built to their own requirements, was Sandringham. They moved into Buckingham Palace when Edward ascended the throne, and after her husband’s death Alexandra returned to Marlborough House, although she preferred the quiet of the Sandringham estate.
- 20.
The Times, June 9 1863, 10c.
- 21.
See, for example, Chap. 5, “Reporting Royalty,” in John Plunkett, Queen Victoria: First Media Monarch (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
- 22.
Fulford, Dearest Mama, 236.
- 23.
Quoted in Hough, Edward and Alexandra, 33.
- 24.
Quoted in Philip Magnus, King Edward the Seventh (London: John Murray 1964), 105.
- 25.
All of the earlier wardrobe accounts outlining her spending and Privy Purse allowances from 1862 to 1897 were lost during the London Blitz.
- 26.
Fulford, Dearest Mama, 246.
- 27.
See: Hannah Pakula, An Uncommon Woman (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996), 114.
- 28.
Tooley, Life of Queen Alexandra, 61.
- 29.
Annie Rudd, “Victorians Living in Public: Cartes de Visites as 19th-Century Social Media,” Photography and Culture 9, no. 3 (2016): 195–217.
- 30.
Frances Dimond, Develo** the Picture: Queen Alexandra and the Art of Photography (London: Royal Collection, 2004), 183.
- 31.
The Times, July 7, 1871, 3.
- 32.
Jane Elizabeth Lewis, Mary Queen of Scots: Romance and Nation (London: Routledge, 1998), 173.
- 33.
Alison Matthews-David, “Elegant Amazons: Victorian Riding Habits and the Fashionable Horsewoman,” Victorian Literature and Culture 30, no. 1 (2002): 193.
- 34.
Henry Poole & Co Measurement Ledger, no number.
- 35.
Fulford, Dearest Mama, 226.
- 36.
Danish National Archives, letters from Alexandra to her sister Minnie (as she affectionately called Dagmar), 1862–1885, 4555, Centralarkiv for Oktoberrevolutionen, Moskva, Boxes 102–104.
- 37.
Tooley, Life of Queen Alexandra, 161. Heliotrope, a shade of purple, was popular at the time.
- 38.
Reginald Esher, Journals and Letters, Volume 1 (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1934), 373.
- 39.
Esher, Journals and Letters, 279.
- 40.
Esher, Journals and Letters, 318.
- 41.
Quoted in John Bradley, Lady Curzon’s India: Letters of a Vicereine (London: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985), 107.
- 42.
Quoted in Bradley, Lady Curzon’s India, 117.
- 43.
Nicola Thomas, “Embodying Imperial Spectacle: Dressing Lady Curzon, Vicereine of India, 1899–1905,” Cultural Geographies 14, no. 3 (2007): 388.
- 44.
Lady Curzon Papers (LCP), British Library, East India Papers, F306/35 No 71, 3 August 1901.
- 45.
LCP, British Library, F306/35 No 76, 9 August 1901.
- 46.
For example, the coloured lithograph of William IV’s consort Queen Adelaide in 1831 shows her plain coronation robes. National Portrait Gallery, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw42108/Queen-Adelaide-Princess-Adelaide-of-Saxe-Meiningen.
- 47.
For details of the robe, see: Zillah Halls, Coronation Costume, 1685–1953 (London: London Museum, 1973), 53.
- 48.
For details of Danish coronation robes, see: Katia Johansen, Royal Gowns (Copenhagen: Rosenborg Palace, 1990), 30, 39, 55; and Katia Johansen, “Magnificence des Rois Danois: Costumes de Couronnement et Habits de Chevaliers,” in Fastes de Cour et Ceremonies Royales, ed. Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel and Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros (Paris: Réuniondes Musées Nationaux, 2009), 140–145.
- 49.
E.A.D., The New York Times, 10 August 1902, np.
- 50.
Mary Meynell, Sunshine and Shadows Over a Long Life (London: John Murray, 1933), 10.
- 51.
E.A.D., The New York Times, 10 August 1902, np.
- 52.
Royal Archive, Queen Alexandra to Princess of Wales, 21 Jan 1908.
- 53.
Elizabeth Longford, Louisa, Lady in Waiting: The Personal Diaries and Albums of Louisa, Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra (London: Jonathan Cape, 1979), 79.
- 54.
Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, 209.
- 55.
For an account of his final weeks and Alexandra’s presence, see: Ridley, Bertie, 448–460.
- 56.
Cecil Beaton, The Glass of Fashion (London: Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1954), 76.
- 57.
Royal Archive, Queen Mary to Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 7 May 1911.
- 58.
Quoted in Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, 302.
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Strasdin, K. (2023). Alexandra of Denmark: Fashioning the Modern Consort. In: Norrie, A., Harris, C., Laynesmith, J., Messer, D.R., Woodacre, E. (eds) Hanoverian to Windsor Consorts. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12829-5_10
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