Princess Alexandra (born 1936)

Alexandra was born at 11:20 am on Christmas Day 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square, London,^[1][2] the second child and only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra; her grandmother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia; and both of her maternal aunts, Countess Elizabeth of Törring-Jettenbach and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia. She received the name Christabel because she was born on Christmas Day, like her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Her birth was the last at which the Home Secretary was required to be present to verify the arrival of potential heirs to the throne.^[3] John Simon attended, and was the final holder of the office to do so.^[4]

As a male-line granddaughter of the British monarch, she was styled as a British princess with the prefix Her Royal Highness. At the time of her birth she was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her cousins Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret, her uncle the Duke of Gloucester, her father the Duke of Kent, and her elder brother Prince Edward. She was born two weeks after the abdication of her uncle King Edward VIII.

Alexandra was baptised in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace on 9 February 1937, and her godparents were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (her paternal uncle and aunt); the Queen of Norway (her great-aunt); Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark (her maternal grandmother); Princess Olga of Yugoslavia (her maternal aunt); Princess Beatrice (her paternal great-great-aunt); the Earl of Athlone (her paternal great-uncle); and Count Karl Theodor of Törring-Jettenbach (her maternal uncle by marriage). Of her godparents, only the King and Queen and Lord Athlone were present.^[5][6]

Alexandra spent most of her childhood at her family's country house, Coppins, in Buckinghamshire. During the Second World War she also lived at Badminton with her widowed grandmother Queen Mary.^[2] Her father was killed in an aeroplane crash in Caithness, Scotland, on 25 August 1942 whilst serving in the Royal Air Force. Alexandra has the distinction of being the first British princess to have attended a boarding school, Heathfield School near Ascot.^[2][7] She later studied in Paris,^[8] and received trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital.^[9]

On 24 April 1963, Alexandra married The Hon. Angus James Bruce Ogilvy (1928–2004), the second son of David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie, and Lady Alexandra Coke, at Westminster Abbey.^[7][10] Ogilvy presented Alexandra with an engagement ring made of a cabochon sapphire set in gold and surrounded by diamonds on both sides.^[11] The wedding ceremony was attended by the royal family^[12] and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people.^[10]

The bride wore a wedding gown of Valenciennes lace, with matching veil and train, designed by John Cavanagh.^[13][14] Alexandra travelled with her brother, the Duke of Kent, from Kensington Palace to the Abbey.^[12] The bridesmaids included Princess Anne and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, and the best man was Peregrine Fairfax.^[12] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, conducted the service.^[12] Ogilvy declined the Queen's offer to be created an earl upon marriage,^[10] so the couple's children carry no titles.

Ogilvy was knighted in 1988 (when Alexandra assumed the style of The Hon. Lady Ogilvy), and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1997. Alexandra and Ogilvy had two children:

• James Robert Bruce Ogilvy (born 29 February 1964 at Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey). He married Julia Caroline Rawlinson on 30 July 1988 at St Mary's Church in Saffron Walden, Essex. They have two children, Flora and Alexander.^[15][16]
• Marina Victoria Alexandra Ogilvy (born 31 July 1966 in Thatched House Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey). She married Paul Julian Mowatt (Hendon, 28 November 1962) on 2 February 1990; they divorced on 15 October 1997. They have two children, Zenouska and Christian.

Marina's first pregnancy, announced in late 1989, caused controversy as the couple were not married. The situation led to a feud with her parents, who suggested that Marina either marry her companion in a shotgun wedding or have an abortion.^[17][18] In an interview with a tabloid at the time, Marina claimed that her parents had cut off her trust fund and monthly allowance due to their disapproval of her conduct.^[17] She also said that she wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, addressing her "Dear Cousin Lilibet", asking the Queen to intervene in the family dispute.^[19] Marina's parents denied her allegations, stating that they loved her, had not cut her off, and that she was welcome at home at any time.^[19][20]

Beginning in the late 1950s, Alexandra undertook an extensive programme of engagements in support of the Queen, both in the United Kingdom and overseas. Taking part in roughly 120 engagements each year, she became one of the most active members of the royal family.^[2] She carried out 110 engagements in 2012, but in April 2013 she cancelled her programme due to polymyalgia rheumatica.^[21] As of 2022, she remained listed as a working member of the royal family, attending numerous ceremonial and charitable engagements.^[22]

In 1959, she undertook a major tour of Australia and attended the Queensland Centenary Celebrations.^[10] The "Alexandra Waltz" was composed for the visit by radio announcer Russ Tyson and television musical director Clyde Collins, and was sung for the princess by the teenage Gay Kahler, who later performed under the name Gay Kayler.^[23] In 1961, Alexandra visited Hong Kong, including stops at Aberdeen Fish Market, Lok Ma Chau police station, and So Uk Estate, a public housing complex.^[24][25] She returned to Australia in 1967 for a private holiday, during which she also carried out engagements in Canberra and Melbourne.^[26] The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane is named in her honour.^[27]

Alexandra represented the Queen when Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom^[10] on 1 October 1960, and she opened the first Parliament on 3 October. Later overseas tours included visits to Canada, Italy, Oman, Hungary, Norway, Japan, Thailand, Gibraltar, and the Falkland Islands.^[10] In 1965, she launched the New Zealand Leander-class frigate HMNZS Waikato at Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[28] She opened the Victoria-to-Brixton section of London Underground's Victoria line on 23 July 1971.^[29] In May 1973, she presented the Scottish Cup to Rangers following the 1973 Scottish Cup Final.^[30] She again represented the Queen at the celebrations marking Saint Lucia's independence from the UK in 1979.^[31]

Alexandra opened the new hospital in Harlow, Essex, named in her honour, on 27 April 1965. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust was announced by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in September 2019 as part of the government's new health infrastructure programme to build a replacement hospital.

She served as chancellor of Lancaster University from its foundation in 1964 until she relinquished the post in 2004,^[32] when she also accepted an honorary degree in Music. She was the first chancellor of the University of Mauritius.^[33] Alexandra is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow,^[34] the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons of England,^[35] the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,^[36] and the Royal College of Physicians. She is president of Alexandra Rose Day, founded in honour of her great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra,^[37] and was patron of The Royal School, Hampstead.^[38] She served as president of WWF-UK until 2011.^[39]

Until its abolition in 2013, she received £225,000 per year from the Civil List to cover the cost of official expenses,^[40] although, as with other members of the royal family (except the Duke of Edinburgh), the Queen repaid this amount to HM Treasury. Alexandra lives at Thatched House Lodge in Richmond, London, a Crown property purchased on a 150-year lease from the Crown Estate Commissioners by Angus Ogilvy after their wedding in 1963. She also has the use of a grace-and-favour apartment at St James's Palace.^[41]

She is the patron of the Blackie Foundation Trust, a charity dedicated to the promotion of research and education in homoeopathy. She is also patron of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals;^[42] the English National Opera;^[43] the London Philharmonic Choir;^[44] the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra;^[45] Wigmore Hall;^[45] the Florence Nightingale Foundation;^[46] the not-for-profit housing association Anchor;^[47] the charity Independent Age;^[48] St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham;^[49] Core, a national charity funding research into digestive diseases;^[50] the Nature in Art Trust;^[51] and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA),^[52][53] the oldest drama school in the English-speaking world. She has been patron of the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton since 1954 and of Alzheimer's Society since 1990.^[54][55] Alexandra is also the royal patron of Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB),^[56] a charity dedicated to reuniting children separated from their families. She is patron of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, which received its royal style in 2012 during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.^[57] In her role as president of Sightsavers UK, she visited Washington D.C. in October 2016 to attend the Neglected Tropical Diseases NGDO Network conference partnership reception.^[58] In November 2016, one month before Alexandra's 80th birthday, the Queen held a reception at Buckingham Palace in honour of her charitable work.^[59]

In May 2023, she appeared alongside other working members of the royal family in photographs taken in the Throne Room and on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronation of King Charles III, which she had attended earlier that day.^[60] In February 2024, she began using a wheelchair and attended a thanksgiving service for Constantine II of Greece later that month.^[61] In June, she joined King Charles for a church service in the Queen's Chapel in London, sitting beside the King to mark the chapel's 400th anniversary celebration.^[62]

Since Princess Alexandra's mother was a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, she is a second cousin to King Charles III and his siblings, in addition to being their first cousin once removed because her father was Queen Elizabeth II's uncle.