Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
| Princess Alexandra | |
|---|---|
| The Hon. Lady Ogilvy | |
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| Princess Alexandra greets opera performers Yam Kim-fai and Bak Sheut-sin after their performance of The Romance of the White Snake, 1961 | |
| Spouse | Angus Ogilvy m. 1963; d. 2004 |
| Issue | |
| James Ogilvy Marina Ogilvy |
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| Full name | |
| Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel[1] | |
| House | House of Windsor |
| Father | Prince George, Duke of Kent |
| Mother | Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark |
| Born | 25 December 1936 Belgrave Square, London |
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy. Prior to her marriage she was known as Princess Alexandra of Kent, being the first princess to use the territorial designation of Kent since Queen Victoria, who was, prior to her accession, known as Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent.
Princess Alexandra carries out royal duties on behalf of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. She is 38th in the line of succession to the thrones of 16 states; at the time of her birth in 1936, she was sixth in line to the thrones of seven countries.
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Early life
Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square, London. Her father was The Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. 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. The Princess was baptised in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace, on 9 February 1937, and her godparents were: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, her uncle and aunt; Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, her grandfather; Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, her aunt; Count Karl Theodor of Törring-Jettenbach, her uncle (by marriage); Queen Maud of Norway, her great-aunt; Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, her great-uncle; and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, great-great-aunt.
Princess Alexandra spent most of her childhood at her family's country house, Coppins, in Buckinghamshire. She lived with her grandmother Queen Mary, the widow of George V, during World War II at Badminton. Her father was killed in an aeroplane crash near Caithness, Scotland on 25 August 1942 while serving in the Royal Air Force.
She served as bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the then-Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 November 1947. The Queen is Princess Alexandra's paternal first cousin; The Duke of Edinburgh is Princess Alexandra's maternal first cousin once removed. (The Duke and Princess Marina were first cousins.) Princess Alexandra has the distinction of being the first British princess to have attended an ordinary school, Heathfield School near Ascot.
Marriage
On 24 April 1963, she married the Hon. Angus James Bruce Ogilvy (1928–2004), the second son of the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke, at Westminster Abbey. The wedding ceremony was attended by all the members of the Royal Family and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people.[citation needed]
Ogilvy declined the Queen's offer of an Earldom upon marriage. This meant that, when they had children, they would carry no title at all.
Angus Ogilvy remained in line to the Earldom of Airlie until his death. He received a Knighthood in 1988, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1997. Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus have two children, James and Marina, and four grandchildren, none of whom carry out Royal duties:
- James Ogilvy, born 29 February 1964; married, 30 July 1988, Julia Rawlinson; had issue
- Flora Ogilvy, born 1994
- Alexander Ogilvy, born 1996
- Marina Victoria Alexandra Ogilvy, born Thatched House Lodge, 31 July 1966; married, Richmond Park, Surrey, 2 February 1990, Paul Julian Mowatt, born Hendon, 28 November 1962; divorced 4 December 1997; had issue
- Zenouska May Mowatt, born London, 26 May 1990
- Christian Alexander Mowatt, born London, 4 June 1993
Royal duties
Since the late 1950s, Princess Alexandra has carried out an extensive programme of royal engagements in support of the Queen, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.
Princess Alexandra was age 15 years old when her cousin ascended to the throne. It has been customary for eldest sons to carry out official duties which are included in the Court Circular. Princess Alexandra was asked by the Queen to undertake such duties because of a lack of female members of the family. The only other princesses by birth were the Queen's sister Margaret, and the Queen's young daughter, Princess Anne. In 1959, she carried out an extensive tour of Australia, and attended the Queensland Centenary Celebrations. She returned to the country in 1967 for a private holiday, but also carried out engagements in Canberra and Melbourne. The Princess represented the Queen when Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960, and later opened the first Parliament on 3 October. Later overseas tours included visits to Canada, Italy, Norway, Thailand, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
Princess Alexandra served as Chancellor of Lancaster University since its foundation in 1964, a post she relinquished in 2005 (when she also accepted an honorary degree in Music). She is also an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Royal College of Physicians. She is also the President of Alexandra Rose Day, which was founded in honour of her great-grandmother, Alexandra of Denmark. She has recently given up the patronage of The Royal School, Hampstead, which was founded in 1855. The new Patron of the School is The Duchess of Cornwall.
Princess Alexandra receives £225,000 per year from the Civil List to cover the cost of official expenses; although like the other members of the Royal Family (except the Duke of Edinburgh) the Queen repays this amount to the 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 Sir Angus Ogilvy after their wedding in 1963.
It was reported in the London Evening Standard on 11 January 2006, that a widow living alone in the seven-bedroom house was too full of memories and that she wanted to sell her lease. However, she currently has not changed her mind. She also has use of a grace-and-favor apartment at St James's Palace in London. Her husband supported Alexandra in Royal duties at times, although he also had an independent career.
She is the patron of the Blackie Foundation Trust, a charity dedicated to the promotion of research and education in homeopathy. She is also a patron of the English National Opera, the London Philharmonic Choir[2] the charity Independent Age, St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham, England, the Nature in Art Trust[3] and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), the oldest drama school in the English speaking world and President of WWF-UK.
Family troubles
Although described as "one of the most popular members of the royal family, [4]" Princess Alexandra and her family have come under media scrutiny at various points in her life. Her husband was a director at a mining company, Lonrho when it was involved in a scandal over the breaking of trade sanctions against British-held Rhodesia. The Prime Minister at the time, Edward Heath criticised the company, and Ogilvy resigned his directorships.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
| Royal styles of Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Titles
- 25 December 1936 – 24 April 1963: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent
- 24 April 1963 – 31 December 1989[5]: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Mrs Angus Ogilvy
- 31 December 1989 – : Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Styles
Her full style is Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
Honours
British Honours
- LG: Lady of the Order of the Garter, 2003
- GCVO: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 25 December 1960
- Royal Family Order of King George VI
- Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
Commonwealth Realms Honours
Canadian Forces Decoration- Patron, Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service (since 1955)
- Patron and Air Chief Commandant, of Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service
- Royal Colonel, 3rd Battalion The Rifles
- Honorary Air Commodore, of RAF Cottesmore
- Royal Honorary Colonel, of The Royal Yeomanry
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, of The Queen's Royal Lancers
Commonwealth Realms
- Colonel-in-Chief, of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- Colonel-in-Chief, of The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
Former Commonwealth British Crown Colony
- Commandant General, of
Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
Arms
Princess Alexandra's personal Coat of Arms were granted in 1961. Her Arms are the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom, with a five point label - the standard differentiation for a male-line grandchild of a British Monarch. The first and fifth points bear a red heart, the second and fourth points bear a blue anchor, and the third point bears a red cross.
Ancestry
References
- ^ As a titled royal, Alexandra does not hold, nor ever has held, a surname, but, when required, her maiden name was Windsor
- ^ www.lpc.org.uk
- ^ "Nature in Art - Trust". Nature in Art Trust. http://nature-in-art.org.uk/trust.html. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
- ^ "Princess Alexandra of Kent". http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/windsor_25.htm.
- ^ St George's Chapel - Orders of Chivalry
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy |
- Royal.gov.uk- Princess Alexandra
- Royal Insight - Focus - December 2006 - Princess Alexandra's 70th birthday
- The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) Warrant Officers' and Sergeants' Mess
- National Archives of Australia- Princess Alexandra, with details of the 1959 and 1967 Royal visits
- Visit to the Falkland Islands
- Anchor Trust
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Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Cadet branch of the House of Wettin
Born: 25 December 1936 |
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| British royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Lady Gabriella Windsor |
Line of succession to the British throne HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy |
Succeeded by James Ogilvy |
| Order of precedence in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland | ||
| Preceded by Princess Michael of Kent |
Ladies HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy |
Succeeded by The Rt Hon The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Lord President of the Council) |
| Order of precedence in Scotland | ||
| Preceded by Princess Michael of Kent |
Ladies HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy |
Local precedence |
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