Queen Alexandra (1844-1925)
Artist: François Flameng (French, 1856-1923)
Collection: Royal Collection Trust, United Kingdom
Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of Edward VII.
Alexandra's family had been relatively obscure until 1852, when her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen with the consent of the major European powers to succeed his second cousin Frederick VII as King of Denmark. At the age of sixteen, Alexandra was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the son and heir apparent of Queen Victoria. The couple married eighteen months later in 1863, the year in which her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother William was appointed king of Greece as George I.
Alexandra was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title, and became generally popular; her style of dress and bearing were copied by fashion-conscious women. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she unsuccessfully attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husband's family to favour Greek and Danish interests. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work.
On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became King-Emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress. She became queen mother on Edward VII's death in 1910, at which point their son George V acceded to the throne. Alexandra died aged 80 in 1925.
This strikingly sophisticated and composed portrait of Queen Alexandra was painted by the French artist François Flameng in 1908. It is one the highlights of early 20th century royal portraiture. The Queen sits upon a stone step, gazing directly at the viewer; dressed in a white silk dress, diaphanous gauze suggested about her arms and shoulders. She is wearing Queen Victoria's small crown, the riband and star of the Order of the Garter, her collier résille necklace, made by Cartier in 1904, and the Koh-i-nûr in its brooch setting. A wooded landscape and suggestion of a building or castle in the background.
