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Queen Alexandra of Denmark (December 1, 1844 – November 20, 1925), was wife of King Edward VII and mother of George V. Born Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia she was known for her many charitable works and was a very popular figure among the British public. Her obituary in The Times touched on this: “All her life Queen Alexandra took, a keen interest in applied science, an especially in science applied to the alleviation of human suffering. This was the basis of her work for hospitals. She was always ready to make the success of opening ceremonies, bazaars and so on, but what she, most enjoyed were intimate, private visits, almost unheralded, to the wards, where she would make a point of seeing every patient and delighting them with her sympathetic words and gestures. It was almost impossible to conduct her round a hospital in the prescribed time.” During the Boer War she was credited with organising the first wave of nurses to South Africa. Indeed, her ability to turn on the common touch when with the public made her a favourite with the crowds. The Times said: “There used to be a song current among her entourage about a humble woman in the crowd, who in describing her experience declared: ‘I saw the Queen and the Queen saw me!’ and this just expressed the happy effect of a manner and look which Queen Alexandra possessed by nature and had cultivated to perfection.” This road was being planned just a few years after her her death. At 16, she was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent of Queen Victoria. They married 18 months later in 1863, the same year her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother was appointed to the vacant Greek throne as George I. She was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title.
