"The Landing of H.R.H. the Princess Alexandra at Gravesend, March 7, 1863," by Henry Nelson O'Neil, 1864.
When Princess Alexandra of Denmark arrived on English soil in 1863 to marry the Prince of Wales, the heir of Queen Victoria, she was the very picture of modesty. No jewelry was visible and she wore a handmade bonnet. Alexandra may have been Danish royalty, but she wasn’t rich. Matter of fact, her family had lived on handouts to get by. She was shy, kind, and very beautiful. Everyone loved her immediately.
Queen Victoria of Great Britain, 1873
When Alexandra joined the British royal family, over two years had passed since Queen Victoria‘s husband, Prince Albert, had died. Yet Victoria was still plunged into deep mourning. Victoria had wished she had died with her beloved Albert. Upon his death, she had renounced all pleasures and vowed to wear dreary black crape dresses the rest of her life as a token of mourning. She spent many of her waking hours kneeling in Albert’s carefully-preserved bedroom, crying and pleading with God to help her. (See “Queen Victoria in the Blue Room with a Bust.”)
Alexandra discovered that Victoria had amassed an enormous jewelry collection. But, after Albert’s death, the Queen had became convinced that excessive display of jewels awakened anti-monarchial feelings in the English people. Princess Alexandra tried to convince her to wear her pretty, glittering things but to no avail. Famously, Victoria refused to wear a crown to the Thanksgiving service honoring her 1887 Golden Jubilee. The Queen of Great Britain arrived at the state ceremony wearing a bonnet.
Whereas Victoria had renounced all pleasures, Princess Alexandra had just begun to live. She had grown up poor and now she was rich and the future Queen of England! She was not about to be sucked into Victorian mourning dress. Although her husband, “Bertie,” was a serial adulterer, Alexandra accepted his infidelity and got on with her life, moving with him from party to party with the artsy crowd. Dressing herself in fine jewels and frivolous clothes became her passion – and she indulged herself completely.
Queen Alexandra at her Coronation, 1902
Initially, Princess (later Queen) Alexandra adopted dog collar chokers, called a ‘collier de chien’ to cover a small scar on her neck. For state and formal occasions, though, she plastered herself from head to waist in necklaces, tiaras, ribbons, sashes, and brooches of pearls, diamonds, and other jewels. Her long strings of pearls became her signature look. Alexandra became quite popular and women copied her style and bearing. American tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., remarked that:
Queen Alexandra “possessed the world’s most perfect shoulders and bosom for the display of jewels.”
Readers: “Queen Victoria’s Tiny Crown” follows this post.
Lisa's History Room 
Hi Lisa,
Tony in Scotland here. Just wanted to say thanks for your reply to my post last week. I’m enjoying your blogs very much. You’ve almost reached the 1 million hits mark. You go girl!!!
It’s plain to see how much you love what you’re doing. I’m loving your work.
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Hey, Tony, thanks for the compliments again. I aim to please. Writing your history is a pleasure.
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Queen Victoria’s 1887 Jubilee bonnet: While it is tempting to use the term ” bonnet” in order to dramatize the contrast to a crown (many writers do this) it was in fact a very stylish sort of miniature tricorn edged with over 100 diamonds and topped with a froth of white ostrich or egret feathers. The whole thing tied under the chin with a “scarf” of black lace which matched the lace overlay in her gown. In fact a fashion tour de force considering her dislike of showy dress.
Not nitpicking but just a comment to an enjoyable read!
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Philip, this is fascinating stuff. Thank you so much for adding this detail to my post. I didn’t know this!
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Lisa–This is a bit off the topic so I hope you don’t mind, but I have always been curious about the reason no member of the British royal family did anything to “rescue” Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov and their children. Alexandra was a direct descendant of Victoria so why wouldn’t they protect them–or at the very least, get them to a safe place? I realize there was no way to predict the cruelty that would be inflicted upon them during their time in “exile” or their incredibly gruesome execution, but I still feel they were deserted by their most powerful family members! And how did so many of the Romanov family jewels end up in Windsor jewelry boxes/vaults? (I’ve also always wondered what happened to the jewels Alexandra and the girls had sewn into their clothes when they were taken into “protective custody”–some was returned by Yakov Yurovsky but I can’t imagine everything they found was returned.)
With or without the Anastasia “wannabe” (Anna Anderson), the Romanov story is as good now as it was nearly a century ago. I think it’s sad that the others who died with them have been nearly forgotten. Their only “crime” was caring for the family so much that they chose to stay with them.
Another great article…….Thanks!
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Vonya, the Russian Orthodox Church is planning to build a church on the grounds where the royal family’s bones were found!
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Your article on Queen Alexandra (Princess of Wales during the life of Queen Victoria) and Consort to King Edward VII was excellent. She was so beloved and beautiful like Princess Diana.
My lifelong interest has been the Victorian Royals…particularly Victoria and Albert and Aix and Bertie. I live in Alabama. Thanks so much for your site!
Kind Regards,
Charles
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Charles, I can’t tell you how much your kind words matter. I will keep up the writing, particularly about the Royals, knowing you are out there reading. Many thanks, Lisa
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This is wonderful! Our family has some sort of ancestral connection with Queen Victoria and in some cases, what appears to be a strong family resemblance. I’ve no idea about what the connection might be and it is not noted in our lineage.
“Mrs. Brown” continues to fascinate me as well as her reign.
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Queen Victoria is fascinating. She was not one-dimensional, that’s for sure! Thanks for visiting Lisa’s History Room and keep coming back, Carolyn.
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A very interesting article indeed!
I would also like to add something here!
It was also said that Tsar Alexander II and her daughter Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna who later married Prince Alfred (Victoria’s second son) insisted upon taking priority to Alexandra of Denmark as they thought the Danish Royal Family was of no match to them. But Queen Victoria wouldn’t do that. Alexandra had more seniority as the Princess of Wales.
So the Tsar gave a very big dowry to her daughter and also an annual allowance which easily exceeded the allowances of all the British Royals. The Tsars were indeed richer but their fate went the other way round.!!
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Guru from India here.
I would also like to add a comment on Vonya’s article!
Even i had wondered why the British Royals wouldn’t do anything to help their Romanov cousins. George V was a first cousin to both Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra -( The former through his mother’s sister Maria Feodorovna and the latter through his father’s sister The Grand duchess of Hesse by Rhine) and indeed Tsar Nicholas II’s wedding was arranged by Edward VII while he was on a Russian tour after Tsar Alexander III’s death. But i think after reading many articles i had come up with a conclusion. It may not be exact. But let me just sum it up,
The First World War by its end had given a severe blow to all monarchies of Europe and George V was very careful in not hurting the sentiments of British people by showing him as a pure British king. He even dropped all the German royal titles that the British Royals had and stripped his German cousins of all their British titles.
So George V probably would not have wanted to risk his position by lending a helping hand to his Russian cousins which would surely need the approval of the Government and show him in a bad light among the British as it would seem that he is more interested in helping his foreign cousins while many British citizens were badly in need of help. He seemed to be far more concerned in not risking to lose his throne than concerning about others.
All he could manage to do was save his aunt – The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and her daughters Olga and Xenia. We cannot fully blame George V as the Revolutionary Government in Russia was also very careful with the whereabouts of Nicholas II’s immediate family and were very cautious in not letting them get any sort of help.
Anyway, it was better for the Romanovs to have an honourable death in their own soil. Imagine the Romanovs having to flee Russia and settle down in Europe as paupers with the pensions provided by the British. And to find suitable grooms for their 4 daughters who were probable carriers of haemophilia which was now a known curse in most of the European courts!!
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Quite a good blog! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
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Marie from South Africa.
I find this website very interesting.
I noticed that the ring on Queen Alexandra’s finger looks a lot like that of Lady Diana and was wondering if it was hers.
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No, I believe Diana’s ring was made for her.
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