Alexandra of Denmark: Fashioning the Modern Consort

Strasdin, Kate ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7617-9153 (2023) Alexandra of Denmark: Fashioning the Modern Consort. In: Hanoverian to Windsor Consorts. Queenship and Power . Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 165-187. ISBN 978-3-031-12828-8

Abstract / Summary

In this edited volume of Queens Consort, this is a biographical summary of Queen Alexandra analysed through the lens of dress and how she fashioned both her public and private self. It considers her life through dress, both through surviving objects in different museum collections and through other historical records, paintings and memoirs.

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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